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On October 26th and 27th (Hilary Clinton’s Birthday) Maria Shriver’s Sixth Annual Women’s Conference (which sold out in a record-breaking two days!) took place at The Long Beach Convention Center. In a nutshell – and according to their website – http://www.californiawomen.org/the-womens-conference-2009/ “The mission of The Women’s Conference is to inspire, empower and educate women to be Architects of Change in their own lives and in the lives of others.”
The theme this year: Be Who YOU Are – An Architect of Change And Pass It On.
The conference coincides with A Woman’s Nation (http://awomansnation.com/) and The Shriver Report, A Study By Maria Shriver And The Center For American Progress that addresses the new fact that half of American workers are now female.
I could not attend so I sat in my home office from 8AM until 3PM absolutely glued to their website which streamed a live webcast of the day’s events. It was also streaming live on The White House website! Yay!!!!!!!
If I had been there, I would have needed a seat belt.
I was, and am, completely and utterly, inspired, motivated, empowered and as Eve Ensler – one of the speaker/performer’s proclaimed “I LOVE LOVE LOVE BEING A GIRL!”
Here are some highlights:
The conference began in a big beautiful ballroom type of setting with attendees sitting at tables. It looked and sounded just like The Academy Awards, dramatic and exciting. The lights dimmed and a woman’s voice boomed out “Ladies and Gentleman! Live! From Long Beach California! Welcome to the Women’s Conference 2009!”
Young, beautiful and talented Los Angeles Opera Singer Angel Blue (yes that is her name) was introduced to sing Frances Scott Key’s The Star Spangled Banner. As she sang I couldn’t help think of Julia Ward Howe’s Battle Hymn Of The Republic – you know it…”mine eyes have seen the glory….”. Both are Civil War songs and I was reminded again of how little we are taught and know about our women’s history. I am determined to change that. Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), trailblazing mom, was the very first woman elected in 1908 to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
Broadcast newswoman and journalist Paula Zahn was the day’s MC. She looks and sounds JUST LIKE Jane Fonda did years ago! Freaky. She set the tone talking about how we all want to live more meaningful lives, yet we are trying to live up to our self-imposed unrealistic expectations and how we are exhausted and overwhelmed and need to come together, to be part of a community. Then came the stats; seventy five percent of all women – and men – are feeling stressed out. No kidding. Half of all workers in America are females and two thirds are moms that are either the primary or co-breadwinners in their homes. This is the big news. “We are responsible for so much. Yet”, she goes on to say, “women are still afraid to ask their employers for time off to care for their children or their parents.” No mention of the seventy eight cents to the man’s dollar that women earn or the very real maternal profiling that prevents women from either getting hired or rocking the boat once employed. But these were just the opening remarks and I am happy to report that minimum wage worker’s issues were addressed later in an amazing panel that included Madeline Albright, Claire Shipman, Amy Holmes and Valerie Jarrett hosted by David Gregory. More on that panel later. Zahn spoke of her own life – juggling motherhood with career and the guilt she – and so many women feel always. “Guilt is corrosive and unproductive”. Yes. Zahn now has two shows on the Discovery Channel – and after thirty years, she is her own boss and finally she controls her life.” Zahn asked us to take an inventory of our lives, to be kind to ourselves, to ask for help, and not be martyrs. The key phrase was “Live It, Feel It, Pass It On”. There was definitely a pep rally feel and I loved it!
Next up - Laree Renda, Executive VP of Safeway Inc. who introduced Geena Davis. Remember she played a president on television? Well, she spoke about her organization called SeeJane.org http://www.thegeenadavisinstitute.org/ which is all about gender in media and advancing leadership for women and girls. She talked about how underrepresented we are in Government – only two women out of nine on the Supreme Court- – women are only 20% of congress
