What is AAUW?

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is the nation’s leading voice promoting equity and education for women and girls. For nearly 140 years, we have worked together as a national grassroots organization to improve the lives of millions of women and their families.

AAUW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has more than 170,000 members and supporters, 1,000 branches, and 800 college and university partners in all fifty states, District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Our Focus

• Economic Security: Economic security for women is non-negotiable. We’ve been working to narrow the gender pay gap, which greets women as soon as they enter the workforce and widens throughout their working lives. Unequal wages stand in the way of a woman’s ability to pay off student debt, build wealth, and save for a secure retirement.
• Education: We champion equal opportunities in education. Though more than 60 percent of college graduates are women, they face barriers and biases throughout their schooling. From preschool to graduate school, girls and women are unconsciously steered into certain fields of study and away from the more lucrative ones, such as in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
• Advocacy: Our members, supporters and staff work on local, state and federal levels to support laws and policies that enable women’s success. Our work in statehouses and the U.S. Capital has helped pass hundreds of pieces of legislation. Our legal advocacy team has supported plaintiffs in more than 125 gender-equity legal cases.