This week marks Women's Equality Day (August 26), the 79th anniversary of suffrage. But women in the U.S. are still not in the Constitution, and our country has still not ratified the international guarantee of women's human rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). We are the only industrialized country in the world failing to ratify the treaty. Women working for ratification have set International Women's Day, March 8, 2000 as the goal for the U.S. Senate to ratify. This means members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee must send it to the floor (it has been bottled up for 19 years). Contact members of the Committee particularly those who are up for re-election (below) and get statements of support or non-support from their challengers:

		      Telephone	    Fax		  E-mail



John Ashcroft (R-MO)  202-224-6154  202-228-0988  E-mail

Bill Frist (R-TN)     202-224-3344  202-228-1264  E-mail

Rod Grams (R-MN)      202-224-3244  202-228-0956  E-mail 

Richard Lugar (R-IN)  202-224-4814  202-228-0360  E-mail

Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)  202-224-4524  202-224-1651  E-mail

Craig Thomas (R-WY)   202-224-6441  202-224-1724  E-mail

If you're a typical woman worker, you'll be about to catch up with men in earnings - earnings men accrued by Dec. 31 of this year. Because of the 26-cent wage gap, women still have to work until sometime each April to make the same money men made in the previous calendar year. The National Committee on Pay Equity invites your organization to participate in Equal Pay Day 2000 (exact April date to be determined). Last year over 500 groups nationwide grabbed headlines with innovative and informative actions (e.g. Kansas women coordinated supermarket displays with grocery carts showing $100 worth of food vs. $74 worth). This is a fun, informative day that gets national nes coverage and LOTS of local coverage for your group - and it highlights the wage gap. Start planning now by contacting NCPE for materials and action ideas at 202-331-7343; fax 202-331-7406.

HATE CRIMES HIGH ON THE AGENDA

The Senate is moving forward on expanding federal power to prosecute hate crimes. A bill sponsored by Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), broadening the hate crime law to include gender, sexual orientation, and disability, has passed as an amendment to the Commerce, State, and Justice, appropriations bill. The future of the amendment is uncertain as it moves through conference committees to final passage, especially since Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has offered a watered-down "compromise" that excludes gender and sexual orientation. Urge your Senator to stick with the Kennedy-Specter version of hate crimes by calling 202-224-3121 (or e-mail your Senator), and oppose any attempts to weaken protections. And while you're at it, ask the Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com or 1115 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20071) what's problematic about gender (editorial 8/10/99). Rape and battering are gender-based hate crimes, period.

The U.S. Dept. of Education proposed new rules this week that would change the way colleges report data on athletes' graduation rates and on gender equity in sports programs. Current law requires reporting on athletic participation by gender and budgets for teams, but the new regulations would prevent schools from misrepresenting the amount of scholarship aid given to women. The Department also decreed that cheerleading is not a sport, at least for purposes of gender-equity reporting. Comments are due by September 15 to Paula Hasselman (go Paula!), U.S. Dept. of Education, P.O. Box 23272, Washington, D.C. 20026-3272 (you can search for data on 306 NCAA Division 1 schools to see who's doing right by women at (http://chronicle.com/free/v45/i37/37a00101.htm).