Join Us for the
Award Celebration
March 31, 2008
6:30 p.m.
At the Blount County Public Library
Become a Sponsor
Make a donation to support AAUW and the women of Blount
County.
Because many have contributed to the growth of women’s advancement in education and equity in Blount County and the AAUW Crystal Award is an opportunity to symbolically recognize those efforts and increase public awareness of those women and men.
Real progress has been made, yet we still have work to do in achieving true economic and educational equity for women and girls in Tennessee.
WE NEED TO INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS TO STRIVE FOR GREATER EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC STABILITY.
 | Tennessee women rank 50th out of 51 in the nation in overall economic status. Less than half earn enough to support themselves and their families, and Tennessee women still earn only 73.5% of every dollar earned by their male colleagues.2 When women achieve economic parity with men, everyone wins. |
| Tennessee ranks 42nd in women’s voter turnout. |
| Only 15% of Tennessee women have a college degree, compared to 22% of women nationally. Only 78% have a high school diploma, compared to 83% on average at the national level.2 |
| Teen pregnancy is costing us a fortune. Fully 95.7% of the almost 200,000 families served from 1996-2001 by Families First (our welfare to work initiative) were headed by female caretakers. Of those, 42% had their first child before age 18.3 On top of that, Tennessee ranks 50th in child support enforcement, trapping women in a vicious cycle of low education, low pay, limited childcare and no way out.1 |
| Domestic violence hurts all Tennesseans. The annual cost of domestic violence in our state alone totals approximately $36.4 million in labor loss, child well being, housing, social service, healthcare and criminal justice.3 |
| Seventy-one percent of girls in Blount County report having experienced some form of harassment during their school lives.4 |
1Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Washington, D.C.:
Status of Women in Tennessee Report 2000, 2IWPR Status Update
2002. 3Tennessee Economic Council on Women, 2002
4Sister to Sister Summit, Blount County, 2004
Contact:
Autumn Hall
213 Foxglove Lane
Maryville, TN 37801
Phone: 865-681-7501
E-mail:
fallhall257@bellsouth.net