Thanksgiving Thoughts by AAUW on the role of Women in our Futures

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Florida just missed electing its first female governor, but Jax still has a chance to elect its first female mayor

Here are some other acchievement women can be proud of this Thanksgiving. List courtesy of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Action Network:

President John F. Kennedy once said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” With that in mind, the American Association of University Women would like to pause this Thanksgiving to give thanks for the many wonderful opportunities and advancements for women and girls during 2010. Here are just a handful of them:

We’re thankful for the increased number of female ambassadors to the United States. Twenty-five of 182 ambassadors in Washington are women, a fivefold increase since the late 1990s. Some cite the “Hillary Effect,” Secretary Clinton’s high visibility on the world stage, as the reason more presidents are choosing female ambassadors.

We’re thankful for the equal opportunities in the Navy for women to serve, and for all the women and men who serve our country in the military. For the first time ever, women will serve on submarines next year.

We’re thankful for Equal Rights Advocates in California fighting on behalf of female UC Davis students for increased opportunities in sports, and for the ACLU of Louisiana for contesting sex segregation in public schools. These Title IX advocates are increasing opportunities for girls and women everywhere.

We’re thankful for First Lady Michelle Obama for highlighting the epidemic of childhood obesity. Through the “Let’s Move!” Campaign, Mrs. Obama is encouraging active families, schools, and communities, and promoting smart decisions about eating right.

We’re thankful for the Education Department’s Race to the Top program and for every student and teacher who dreams big. The program allows high schools to compete to show why they are a model for success in hopes of winning the prizeâ€"a commencement speech by President Obama. We’re also thankful for $1.8 million in grants from the Department of Labor to support women in non-traditional occupations like construction and manufacturing.

We’re thankful for 50 years of the pill empowering women to make reproductive choices.  We’re also thankful for the passage of a Wisconsin law  that requires public school sex education courses to teach about birth control and STI’s, and shutting down many abstinence-only programs.

We’re thankful that the U.S. Department of Education closed a loophole that allowed schools to evade Title IX compliance in athletics.  And we’re thankful for each and every one of the 38 investigations by the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights to identify and address all forms of inequality in public schools.

We’re thankful for AAUW’s leadership at the 54th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in March, and at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) expert group meeting on Gender, Science, and Technology in Paris, France in October.

We’re thankful for a Title IX legal victory in Michigan by a student who underwent years of bullying because his school failed to protect him.  We’re also thankful for Justice Department lawyers in New York interpreting Title IX to cover discrimination based on gender stereotypes; the Civil Rights Division applied the law to a case on behalf of a teenage boy who was beaten up for “being effeminate.”

We’re thankful for the creation of the U.S. Business and Industry STEM Education Coalition, which plans to combine resources to enhance the nation’s commitment to STEM education and increase the number of students from underrepresented populations in the STEM workforce.

We’re thankful for the Senate defeat of an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill (H.R. 1568) that would have extended the Washington D.C. school voucher program by five years. The program would have diverted $20 million per year from public to private schools.

We’re thankful for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s effort to combat the growing public health issue of teen dating violence, which included the release of an interactive web-based training for educators and others working with teens. We’re also thankful for AAUW’s Legal Advocacy Fund’s Campus Sexual Assault Program in a Box, which provides information on the prevalence of sexual assault as well as tools to end it.

We’re thankful for AAUW’s research report, Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, which explains the shortage of women in STEM fields. The acclaimed report received nationwide coverage in publications like New York Times, Washington Post, and TIME magazine. The report was also presented by AAUW at a White House dialogue with the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

We’re thankful that AAUW was able to attend a White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility, put on by the White House Council on Women and Girls, President Obama, and First Lady Michelle Obama in March. We’re equally thankful the AAUW attended the first ever White House Summit on Community Colleges, hosted by Dr. Jill Biden.

We’re thankful for the first female president of Harvard University, Drew Gilpin Faust. Since she has begun to serve, Harvard has seen a record number of women among its faculty. We’re also thankful that, for the first time, women earned more doctorates than men in 2008-2009. AAUW Director of Research Catherine Hill was quoted on the front page of the Washington Post highlighting the new statistics.

We’re thankful for the 40 percent drop in the global maternal mortality rate since 1980 and the continued attention maternal health is receiving as part of President Obama’s Global Health Initiative and from a UN Millennium Development Goals.

We’re thankful for Barbie’s new job as a computer engineer, a sign of encouragement for young girls to enter STEM careers, courtesy of Mattel.

We’re thankful for the many, many tireless supporters of the Paycheck Fairness Act and pay equity in the workforce, like Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the House sponsor of the bill that was barely defeated in the Senate.

We’re thankful for an administration that continued to express support for the simple justice of pay equity by meeting with national leaders in the campaign for the Paycheck Fairness Act on the afternoon it was blocked by the Senate.