Danville-Alamo-Walnut Creek AAUW

06/19/2026

Honor. Reflect. Celebrate.
Today we commemorate Juneteenth and recognize the enduring pursuit of freedom, equality, and opportunity.

06/17/2026

Le***an, gay, bisexual, transgender, and q***r (LGBTQ+) workers continue to face significant pay inequities driven by discrimination. Pay equity is a right, not a privilege.

The lack of pay data on sexual orientation and gender identity makes it harder to identify and address pay gaps. Now, a federal agency wants to stop collecting basic data. We can’t fix what we can’t see.

On this LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Awareness Day, we urge you to stand up for workplace equity. Take action: aauw.org/act/two-minute-activist

06/08/2026

Please join us for a no-host lunch at WiseGirl Restaurant to catch up with old friends and meet new ones!

New members, prospective members, long-time members, friends -- all are welcome!

This Wednesday, June 10th
11:30am to 1:00pm

WiseGirl Restaurant
1932 Oak Park Blvd.
Pleasant Hill Ca

(To make lunch payments easier, please bring cash or checks, or plan to use Venmo.)

Please email Janet Hoy at [email protected] to let her know you're coming.

06/08/2026

LWVDV will be joining with Indivisible Resisters Contra Costa (IRCC) for a rally in support of Democracy. We are STRONGER TOGETHER!

Saturday, June 13, 2026
11:30am - 1:00pm
Liberty Bell Plaza (corner of Mt. Diablo Blvd & Broadway)
Walnut Creek, CA

Rally in the plaza, followed by Honk & Wave.

"Together, we’ll celebrate the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment — including the freedoms of speech, religion, press, assembly, and protest — and the people power that protects them."

Bring your Signs!
LWVDV member? Wear your LWV hats/ shirts, buttons!

To RSVP or submit any questions, please email us at [email protected].

06/08/2026

What a wonderful day at Valley Pride 2026!

We were proud to join 30 community organizations at the Valley Pride 2026 Community Resource Fair, celebrating and supporting our local LGBTQ+ community. The energy, connection, and sense of belonging throughout the event made it a truly special experience.

“The event was fun! The community vibe was fantastic—I was so happy that we participated.” – AAUW DAW Board Member, Monika Witte

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello and helped make the day so memorable.

Visit srvalleypride.org for more information.

06/06/2026

While 156,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy 82 years ago today, one determined journalist made history by breaking both military rules and gender barriers. Martha Gellhorn, an experienced American war correspondent for Collier's magazine, became the only female journalist to cover D-Day firsthand -- despite explicit rejections from British authorities.

When the British government accredited hundreds of journalists to document the invasion, they denied all applications from women. Undeterred, Gellhorn took matters into her own hands. She secretly boarded a hospital ship by hiding in a bathroom, then made her way onto the beach disguised as a stretcher bearer, risking severe punishment to report directly from the frontlines.

Gellhorn's remarkable career continued as she traveled across Europe with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division. She was among the first journalists to witness the horrors of the N**i concentration camp at Dachau; documented the fall of Prague, Czechoslovakia; and reported on the Nuremberg war crimes trials.

Throughout her extraordinary 60-year long career in journalism, Gellhorn covered virtually every significant global conflict. This trailblazing war correspondent, whose determination exemplified journalistic dedication, passed away in 1998 at age 89.

Martha Gellhorn was the author of many books including "The Face of War" (https://amzn.to/2DtAoYv), "A Stricken Field: A Novel" (https://amzn.to/2DrHwol), "Travels with Myself and Another" (https://amzn.to/2qI31ch), "Martha Gellhorn's Letters of Love and War 1930-1949" (https://amzn.to/3fZRjGS), and "The View from the Ground" (https://amzn.to/3xlaUY2)

She is also the subject of the fascinating biography "Gellhorn: A Twentieth-Century Life" (https://amzn.to/2Dtqdn0) and a historical fiction novel focused on her tumultuous relationship with Ernest Hemingway (https://amzn.to/3fRnoka)

Martha Gellhorn is one of six courageous female journalists who reported on WWII featured in the new book: "The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II" at https://www.amightygirl.com/the-correspondents

She is also one of 16 courageous female journalists whose stories are told in the excellent book, "Reporting Under Fire: 16 Daring Women War Correspondents and Photojournalists," for teens and adults, ages 13 and up, at https://www.amightygirl.com/reporting-under-fire

For more books for adult readers about heroic women of WWII, visit our blog post, "Telling Her Story: 40 Books for Adult Readers About Women Heroes of WWII," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=24501

06/06/2026

“To Kaitlan Collins and every other woman reporter refusing to be silenced: we see you, we support you, and we've got your back.”

CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins hadn't even asked a question yet. She was just standing in the Oval Office on Wednesday, doing her job, when Donald Trump turned mid-sentence to attack her -- for not smiling.

Not smiling. That's what set him off. Since returning to office, Trump has launched gendered attacks on female journalists and commentators at least 20 times -- calling them "piggy," "ugly," "stupid," "nasty," "obnoxious," and "disgrace," among other things. But Collins seems to draw particular fire.

Mid-rant, Trump gestured to her across the Oval Office to call her "corrupt," then added: "Never smiles. A young, beautiful woman. Never smiles. I never see a smile on her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes."

But why does Collins rattle Trump so much that he attacks her before she's even opened her mouth? According to one of Trump's own former aides, the answer is simple: he's afraid of her.

"Kaitlan Collins was the one reporter that scared Kayleigh McEnany and President Trump the most," Sarah Matthews, who served as Trump's deputy press secretary in his first term, said on CNN Wednesday night. "There would be times where Kayleigh McEnany wouldn't even call on Kaitlan Collins at press conferences, at press briefings, because she didn't want to answer the questions, because Kaitlan Collins is a very, very good reporter. And I think that's why you see Trump go after her more ferociously than any other reporter in that room."

This is exactly how small men behave when confronted with someone they fear -- they lash out.

When Collins did finally ask her question -- whether Trump's $1.8 billion Department of Justice slush fund was officially dead or just on hold -- the attacks only escalated. "Be quiet!" he snapped. "You should be ashamed of yourself." He never actually answered the question.

Collins, always the professional, shared a video of the exchange on Instagram, noting matter-of-factly: "President Trump says he still loves the idea of the $1.8 billion fund for his allies and declined to tell us whether it's permanently scrapped."

CNN's Anderson Cooper called out the double standard that night: "That's the president of the United States, a nearly 80-year-old man who has no problem commenting on her physical appearance and telling her she needs to smile. That doesn't happen to men. No one's ever said that to me in an office setting. She was there like every other journalist doing her job, standing around with a bunch of non-smiling men, by the way, all behind her. She gets singled out."

None of this is accidental. It's a calculated pattern. As Elisa Lees Muñoz, executive director of the International Women's Media Foundation, told the Guardian, "President Trump's targeting of women journalists is nothing new. His appearance-based insults are gendered attacks meant to shut women journalists up. While name-calling may seem harmless, coming from the head of our government, it often sets in motion a torrent of abuse towards the journalist, which not only impacts her ability to work, but also sends a chilling message to other women journalists who are confronting him with hard-hitting questions."

But here's what Trump still doesn't understand: intimidation only works if we let it. Collins didn't smile on command. She didn't go quiet when ordered. And neither will the rest of them.

To Kaitlan Collins and every other woman reporter refusing to be silenced: we see you, we support you, and we've got your back.

To help female journalists breaking barriers and refusing to be intimidated in the U.S. and around the world, you can support the critical work of the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) at https://www.iwmf.org/

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For adults interested in learning about more trailblazing women in journalism, we recommend "You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War" (https://www.amightygirl.com/you-don-t-belong-here) and "Sensational: The Hidden History of America's 'Girl Stunt Reporters' (https://www.amightygirl.com/sensational)

For children's books about trailblazing female journalists, we recommend “She Persisted: Nellie Bly” for ages 6 to 9 (https://www.amightygirl.com/she-persisted-nellie-bly), "Nellie Bly and Investigative Journalism for Kids" for 8 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/nellie-bly-investigative), and "Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business -- And Won" for ages 12 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/ida-m-tarbell)

For fictional stories starring Mighty Girl reporters, check out "Hilde Cracks the Case: Hero Dog!" for ages 6 to 8 (https://www.amightygirl.com/hero-dog), "The Newspaper Club" for ages 8 to 12 (https://www.amightygirl.com/the-newspaper-club), and "Revenge of the Red Club" for ages 10 to 13 (https://www.amightygirl.com/revenge-of-the-red-club)

For books for children and teens that celebrate the even-handedness that exemplifies the integrity of professional journalists, visit our "Fairness & Justice" book section at http://amgrl.co/2BbcRG0

Thanks to The Resistance for sharing this image!

06/04/2026

The 19th Amendment was passed by both houses of Congress in 1919, which began the state ratification process that would lead to the Amendment's certification in the Constitution on August 26, 1920.

But the battle for women's right to vote didn't end there. While it represented a major victory for the movement after nearly 70 years of activism, the 19th Amendment did not simply grant universal suffrage for all women.

Native American women were not considered US citizens until 1924, but until as late as 1962, individual states still prevented them from voting.

Asian American immigrant women were excluded from voting until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 allowed them to gain citizenship.

Black women faced Jim Crow-era barriers like poll taxes, voter ID requirements, and acts of violence that threatened their ability to cast a ballot until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Latina women faced literacy tests and other language-based setbacks that prevented them from voting until a 1975 extension of the Voting Rights Act.

As we celebrate this monumental achievement for women, we also recognize that only some of the women who fought for suffrage were able to exercise their newly-won right to vote. Despite being some of the movement's fiercest advocates, suffragists like Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, Zitkála-Šá, and Luisa Capetillo could not cast their first ballots in the 1920 election because of their race.

Today, we honor the women who not only fought for the 19th Amendment's passage, but also after it, as their efforts on behalf of their communities paved the way for the freedoms of all American women.

📷: Dora Lewis (seated), Abby Scott Baker (seated), Anita Pollitzer (standing), Alice Paul (seated), Florence Boeckel (seated), and Mabel Vernon (standing) conferring over ratification of the 19th Amendment at the National Woman's Party headquarters, 1919.

06/04/2026

See you Saturday!

06/01/2026

Last day to vote in the mid-term primary election 2026 is tomorrow by 8pm.

Find your polling place: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/polling-place

Still deciding on your candidates? Check out the AAUW California Voter Guide for more information. https://www.aauw-ca.org/voter-guides-and-information/