Advocacy

Reproductive freedom and access.  Title IX.  Pay equity.  End gender-based violence and sexual harassment.  Paid family leave.  Affordable childcare.  Affordable kupuna care.  Get involved. By improving the public policies, we can improve the lives of women, girls and their families in Hawaii.

Advocacy is AAUW of Hawaii’s top priority.  We collaborate with Hawaii state legislators and community advocates to push forward policies that break through educational and economic barriers for women and girls.    Support our 2025 state legislative priorities by submitting testimonies in support.

Sign up to get email notifications on the bills, advocacy trainings, educational events, rallies and other actions you can take to change the public policies for gender equity.  Follow us on Facebook and/or Instagram.  Email us at publicpolicy-hi@aauw.net if you have any questions.

Learn more about actions you can take nationally.    Sign up for two minute activists to advocate with your representatives in U.S. Congress.

Hawaii State Legislature



Outcome of 2024 Legislative Session

Three bills AAUW of Hawaiʻi supported passed 2024 legislative session and will become state laws on July 10th unless the governor vetoes them.

  • Prevent abusive litigation (HB2657)
  • Constitutional Amendment on same sex marriage (HB2802)
  • Expand the civil statute of limitation in case of childhood sexual abuse (SB2601)

We also worked on paid family and medical leave, affordable childcare, and expanding reproductive access.  Reference our tracking report for the details.  Watch the recording of the AAUW of Hawaii 2024 Legislative Session Kickoff where we went in-depth on the paid family and medical leave with Nicole Woo, Director of Research and Economic Policy at the Hawaii Children’s Action Network.

 

Forty one AAUW of Hawaiʻi members and partners had a great time meeting with state legislators to advocate for paid family and medical leave and affordable childcare on March 7th.

 

Outcome of 2023 Legislative Session

                              (signing of campus safety and UH confidential advocates bills)

Five bills AAUW of Hawaiʻi supported became Hawaii state laws.  

  • protect and expand abortion access omnibus bill  (Act 2)
  • equal pay – pay transparency, use of “substantially similar work” (Act 203)
  • campus safety – trauma informed training, awareness + prevention, prohibit disciplinary actions against individuals reporting sexual misconduct (Act 76)
  • UH confidential advocates: victim-counselor privilege for privacy, DV training (Act 84)
  • accreditation program and grants for child care providers (Act 169)

We worked closely with Hawaii state legislators and community advocacy partners on the five bills which passed but also on paid family leave, gender equity on board, sexual violence prevention education at DOE, extending CSOL for child sexual abuse, wage subsidy pilot for childcare workers, kupuna care, and free menstrual products at UH.  Reference our tracking report for the details.

Title IX

On left: Patsy Takemoto Mink, Collection of the U.S. House of of Representatives, U.S. Capitol, unveiled on June 23, 2022; photography courtesy of Sharon Sprung and Gallery Henoch, New York.  On right: A commemorative lei ceremony was held on June 23, 2022  at the Patsy Takemoto Mink monument outside the Hawaiʻi State Library to mark the 50th anniversary of the landmark Title IX legislation that Mink championed

Since the passage of Title IX in 1972…

In addition in Hawaii…

Pay Equity

Since the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963…

From Hawaii New Now Sunrise

In addition in Hawaii…

New Equal Pay law requires pay secrecy, transparency for employees in Hawaii, From Hawaii News Now on July 18, 2018

From Payscale on May 23, 2023