As issues pertaining to women continue to gain prominence nationally, a group of students on campus hopes to raise awareness to it on a local level.

The University of Iowa chapter of the American Association of University Women, a national, nonprofit organization that seeks to advance equality for women, held its first meeting Monday night.

Leaders of the group say they want to work on numerous issues that affect females, which includes sexual assault, the gender pay gap, and human-rights issues.

Caitlin Chenus, a co-president of the UI chapter of the group, said the organization would focus on the subject of sexual assault in November.

The issue of sexual assault on campus was reintroduced last week after the UI revealed the results of its 2015 Speak Out Iowa survey. Of the 9.3 percent of the UI students who responded, 21 percent of female undergraduates reported being raped while enrolled at the UI.

“We’re going to try to … bring awareness to [sexual assault] and work on it and realizing how much it happens,” she said. “The big thing is trying to make [the victims] understand it’s not something they did, and it’s not their fault.”

UI graduate student Ashley Parker, who attended the meeting, said she has not experienced any sexual misconduct personally. However, she said, she realizes it is an issue college campuses face in general and believes it is something that needs to be taken seriously here.

“It’s the little things that stand out, but the University of Iowa is really progressive, so it’s not going to have the same glaring issues that other places will,” she said. “But it’s the little things that need to get better — respect, awareness.”

Chenus and MacKenzie Koehler, the other co-president of the organization, said they also aim to help women get into the workforce and empower them individually.

“We’re really big on ‘what can we do for you and how can we shape your leadership and educational goals,’ ” Koehler said.

Together, Chenus and Koehler hope to send each member on an all-expenses paid trip to the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders with the help of a $5,000 grant. People who attend the conference, which takes place annually in Washington, D.C., during the summer, can attend workshops and hear from different speakers.

“They’re trying to get more women involved in leadership roles,” Koehler said. “The percentage of women in politics and CEO positions and leadership roles are extremely low, and they’re trying to give women the boost that they need and help them improve their résumé and improve their network.”

Chenus, who is also the co-president of the UI Sailing Club, said she has experienced difficulties as a female leader of the club, so empowering women to lead is important to her.

“I’ve had a lot of problems in the past year just because it’s hard to take a leadership position when you’re a woman, especially in male-dominated areas,” she said.

In addition to sending members to the conference, the co-presidents plan on working with other campus organizations, such as Feminist Union and Hawks for Choice, over the course of the year. They also hope to schedule a meeting with Grand View University’s chapter of the national group.

Most of the students who attended the first meeting were enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Based on those in attendance, Parker, a STEM major, said the organization seemed to have a liberal-arts focus. Above all, she said she was interested in joining the organization because she is still affected by issues that affect all other women on campus.

“I’m still a woman in a university,” she said. “I still have some of the same challenges … and a mental gap when it comes to my own confidence that I think this organization will help.”