Nearly Half of Students Experienced Sexual Harassment at School Last Year

American Association of University Women
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE11/07/2011
Contact:Katie Broendel, broendelk@aauw.org202/785-7761
Lisa Goodnight, goodnightl@aauw.org202/785-7738

Nearly Half of Students Experienced Sexual Harassment at School Last Year
AAUW Releases Most Comprehensive Research on Sexual Harassment at School in a Decade

WASHINGTON — The American Association of University Women (AAUW) today released Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, the most comprehensive, nationally representative research conducted in the past 10 years on sexual harassment in middle and high schools.
Sexual harassment pervades the lives of students in grades 7–12. Nearly half of those surveyed reported that they had been harassed in the 2010–11 school year. Of that number, a majority (87 percent) said that being harassed had a negative effect on them. Among the responses, one-third said they did not want to go to school as a result of the harassment. Another third said they felt sick to their stomachs.
The prevalence of sexual harassment in middle and high school comes as a surprise to many, in part because it is rarely reported. Only about 9 percent of harassed students told a teacher, guidance counselor, or other adult at school about being sexually harassed.
"The AAUW report Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School is a call to action to students, parents, teachers, and all of us who are concerned about the next generation," said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE. "Many students feel sexual harassment is normal behavior, and often victims of sexual harassment in turn victimize other children. It's a vicious cycle that exacts an enduring emotional toll on students."
Included in the report are promising practices for how teachers, parents, and community groups in particular can help change the school climate.
"The good news is that the more we know about sexual harassment at school, the better we can combat it," said AAUW Director of Research and co-author Catherine Hill. "This report is nationally representative and provides fresh insight into this problem."
Creating, publicizing, and enforcing sexual harassment policies and adhering to the requirements of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 are other ways schools can bring attention to the issue and chip away at the problem.
"Our report clearly shows that, in many instances, we are failing to provide the safe environment necessary for our children to succeed," said Lisa Maatz, AAUW director of public policy and government relations. "Children and their families are too often left to fend for themselves when kids are harassed. Congress needs to strengthen federal protection for all students, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, perceived gender identity, or religion."
On Tuesday, November 15, AAUW will host an event at the National Press Club on the topic featuring Rosalind Wiseman, an AAUW fellowship recipient, youth expert, and author of Queen Bees and Wannabes, the book that inspired the film Mean Girls; Kedrick Griffin, senior director of programs at Men Can Stop Rape; and Ileana Jiménez, educator at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School in New York.

###
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. Since 1881, AAUW has been one of the nation's leading voices promoting education and equity for women and girls. AAUW has a nationwide network of more than 100,000 members and donors, 1,000 branches, and 500 college/university institutional partners. Since AAUW's founding 130 years ago, members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political. AAUW's commitment to educational equity is reflected in its public policy advocacy, community programs, leadership development, conventions and conferences, national partnerships, and international connections.

http://www.aauw.org/media/pressreleases/crossingtheline_110711.cfm

AAUW Hosts Capitol Hill Briefing on Equal Pay Day

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) announced that it held a briefing in Washington, DC on the persistent pay gap between women and men. The subject of the briefing was "New Voices for Pay Equity" and the association highlighted the gender gap issues in law, engineering, academia and public relations. The association also released a publication, "The Simple Truth About the Equal Pay Gap" during its Capitol Hill briefing. For a copy of the "Simple Truth", go to: http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/simpleTruth.cfm See below for more information about the briefing, the panelists who spoke and other publications on the gender gap in their respective professions including academia: Panelists: Lisa M. Frehill, Ph.D.Director of Research, Evaluation and Policy National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering NACME Technical Report: Salaries of Engineers (PDF)NACME Research and Policy Brief April 2011: Engineering Salaries (PDF) John W. Curtis Director of Research and Public Policy American Association of University Professors Persistent Inequity: Gender and Academic Employment (PDF) Bey-Ling Sha, Ph.D., APR Associate Professor School of Journalism and Media Studies, San Diego State University Visit the Pubic Relations Society of America website for news, information, and publications about the gender pay gap in public relations. Deborah S. Froling JD Partner Arent Fox LLP Attorneys at Law Report of the Fifth Annual National Survey of Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms Angela Stevenson Public Health General Manager Wayne County, Michigan, Department of Public Health Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of Gender Pay Inequity (PDF) http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/simpleTruth.cfm

Good news on women in science

The Boston Globe
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Columnist / March 28, 2010

THE NUMBER of women in science and engineering is growing, yet men continue to outnumber women, especially at the upper levels of these professions.’’

So begins a new research report, “Why So Few?,’’ published last week by the American Association of University Women, an advocacy group that describes itself as “the nation’s leading voice promoting education and equity for women and girls.’’ The report argues that “social and environmental factors’’ — negative stereotypes about girls’ math skills, for example, or the hard-driving culture of many science and technology workplaces — contribute significantly to the “striking disparity’’ between the numbers of men and women in the so-called STEM fields: science, technology, engineering, and math.
That disparity, says the association, is reflected in statistics like these:
The Labor Department reports that women account for only 10 percent of the nation’s civil and aerospace engineers, 8 percent of the electrical engineers, and 7 percent of the mechanical engineers....

And in academia? The report concedes that “when women . . . apply for STEM faculty positions at major research universities they are more likely than men to be hired.’’ (emphasis added) Not even “the nation’s leading voice promoting education and equity for women,’’ it turns out, can make a convincing case that sexist bias is a serious problem in science, engineering, or math.

Full Story:

Support Hate Crimes Protections

AAUW Action Network
April 09, 2009

Last week, Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913), and the House is expected to vote on it at the end of April. This critical piece of legislation will provide much-needed protections and tools to combat-and help eliminate-hate and bias crimes. Help protect women who are not currently protected under the justice system by urging your representative to cosponsor and support this important legislation.

Current law only allows federal involvement in the prosecution of non-federal hate crimes when the victim was targeted because of race, color, religion, or national origin. This legislation would fill a gap in the law by also allowing the Department of Justice to take on cases motivated by the victim's actual or perceived gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.

While progress has been made in responding to crimes such as domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault, more can be done. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act is necessary to ensure an appropriate response when local law authorities cannot or will not give gender-based hate crime victims the protection they deserve. By strengthening protections against bias-motivated crimes and removing some restrictions on when the federal government can assist local authorities in the prosecution of such hate crimes, fewer of these disturbing cases will slip through the cracks.

The bill passed both the House and Senate during the 110th Congress, but a presidential veto threat kept it from being enacted. AAUW Action Network and our Capitol Hill Lobby Corps members have supported this bill in the past, and we ask you to join AAUW again now in sending a clear signal that hate-motivated violence carried out against any individual will not be tolerated.

Take Action!
To urge your representative to support the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, click on the "Take Action" link in the upper right corner, or copy and paste the following URL into your Internet browser. Then, follow the instructions to send an email to your representative. http://capwiz.com/aauw/issues/alert/?alertid=13107436

For more information, read AAUW's letter to representatives urging them to cosponsor this legislation, and read AAUW's full position on preventing hate crimes.

http://www.aauw.org/publications/washupdate/index.cfm