Sexism Focus of AAUW Grant for Sierra College

Rocklin, Calif.- The American Association of University Women (AAUW) awarded a grant in the amount of $5000 to Sierra College for a campus project to fight stereotypes and biases as part of AAUW’s ongoing collaboration with Pantene.

The 2014-15 AAUW Campus Action Project (CAP) grants, sponsored by Pantene’s Shine Strong campaign, are one way the brand is supporting women.

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Each year, the AAUW CAP grants provide funding to teams of students and faculty to create community-based solutions to some of the far-reaching problems explored in AAUW research, which includes the real-life effects of biases and stereotypes.

In the past few years, the AAUW research reports Graduating to a Pay Gap: The Earnings of Women and Men One Year after College Graduation and Women in Community Colleges: Access to Success have addressed how stereotypes harm women’s educational opportunities and salaries.

“We are thrilled and honored to receive the AAUW Campus Action Project Grant.  The AAUW grant presents a great opportunity to create a project to challenge participants and create a campus-wide discussion confronting misconceptions, unconscious bias, and apathy toward sexism today.” said Megan Seely, faculty lead on the grant.

The AAUW CAP group at Sierra College has created a Gender Stereotype Alphabet with each letter of the alphabet representing a stereotype, bias, or experience. Examples include cat calling, heteronormativity, apathy, unequal pay.  Each letter will have a brief definition, examples, and an action to take.  We plan to create opportunities for participants to respond to the project and share their ideas, reactions, and experiences via social media and on-campus venues.   We hope to address the connection between gender stereotypes, unconscious bias, and sexism. 

“Despite all of the progress that we have made as a society, negative and harmful stereotypes about women persist, affecting nearly every area of life,” said Kate Farrar, vice president of AAUW Campus Leadership Programs. “AAUW has a number of ways to encourage college women to speak out against stereotypes and other injustices. We are pleased that Pantene is joining our effort to empower college women so they can be voices for change.”

In addition to Sierra College, the 2014-15 CAP grantees include teams from Cheyney University in Pennsylvania; Clemson University in South Carolina; the College at Brockport in New York; Murray State University in Kentucky; Napa Valley College in California; Pacific Lutheran University in Washington; the University of Dubuque in Iowa; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; and West Virginia Wesleyan College.

“Pantene believes that women are stronger when they work together, and we are thrilled to have collaborated with AAUW and been able to provide these grant recipients with the opportunity to work as a team to fight the stereotypes and biases on their college campuses across the country,” said Jodi Allen, Procter & Gamble vice president of P&G Hair Care & Color for North America. “We are certain these CAP grants will inspire action and change among these young leaders and those that their programs will reach.”

With Pantene’s support, one member from each CAP team will also present on their project at the 2015 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders, hosted by AAUW and NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. This annual conference, which is held at the University of Maryland, College Park, gathers college women from across the country to address important and contemporary leadership issues.