Comments on: My Passion

By: Lois Whealey

Lois Whealey — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:24:38 +0000

I am a retired person who did not work long enough (10 years/40 quarters) to be eligible for Social Security, or for a teacher’s pension. I have been a homemaker/citizen activist/volunteer for 45 years.
So I am very much aware of the economic consequences to women of the lower wages they earn over their working (outside the home) lifetimes. Even women who work faithfully for over 40 years will retire with significantly lower benefits than their male colleagues.
Wake up, young women! You need organizations like AAUW to do the research and then the lobbying needed to alert governmental and business leaders to the needs of women!

By: Judith Mawhinney

Judith Mawhinney — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:40:05 +0000

Reading the “My Passion” post by Christy Jones triggered a thought about an event that occurred recently when my husband and I met with a Title Officer and Bank Representative to apply for a reverse mortgage. Equity is still an issue!

Being retired from management in the field of governmental services, I often experienced painful inequities surrounding me. Frustration was a daily feeling as I fought to promote my program to the community funded by Federal and state policy. Last month, following my retirement from this position, I once again faced gender inequality.

As my husband and I sat across from these two male bank officers during the ceremony, our role was to sign our name to approximately 20 pages of Bureaucratic information verifying that we understood what was written. My husband’s name appeared first at every turn. When I asked why they placed my name to the right or under his name, the response was one of silence and a look of shock. In other words, why would I ask such a question. “This is the norm” was the response.

Let’s continue to voice our thoughts.

By: Charmaine

Charmaine — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:24:40 +0000

I also recently realized that a corporation as an entity was legally given inalienable rights as a person many years before women were even given full rights as people.

As a black woman I’m often painfully aware of inequities of many types. It’s great to have the power of an organization such as AAUW keeping a light on for all of us.