Dear Fellow Advocates for Women and Girls:
Here are some startling and disturbing facts:
- One in five high school girls have been physically and/or sexually assaulted by a dating partner, significantly increasing their risk of drug abuse, suicide and other harmful behavior. Part of the reason for this is because the girl is too afraid of making a fuss or worried about being made fun of to ask her date to stop.
- Women between the ages of 25-44 are most often affected by depression with a major cause of it being the inability to express or handle anger.
- According to a Girls Inc. nationwide survey, girls are getting the message that they have to be athletic, get top grades, be well-dressed, be thin and beautiful, all at once. Then when they’re grown, in addition to be perfect mothers and wives, they’re expected to look young forever and be financially successful while doing so. This impossible to reach “super-girl” societal standard has intensified in the twenty-first century and is causing women of all ages to feel like failures. And feeling like a failure makes people depressed, angry, and unfulfilled.
Think about this ? if 50% of the world’s inhabitants feel depressed, angry, and unfulfilled, how does it affect their life outlook, their ability to be good mothers, employers, employees, or even just good citizens?
The issue of women and their self-esteem impacts every nation. That’s why I believe we all have to do our part to help girls and women feel healthy, powerful, and satisfied even if they don’t meet our distorted modern media requirements of what it means to be a woman. To this end, I’ve founded the Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference, “a gathering of leaders from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise who are joining forces to educate and inspire women of all ages to believe and invest in their own talents, skills and potential.”
I am blown away by the number of remarkable individuals who have readily volunteered to share their talents and be part of this day-long event which features talks and workshops on everything from technology to relationships, to business and more that will leave every attendee motivated to live his or her best life. Their names and bios are listed on our Speakers Pages from 2012 and 2013.
A number of our speakers are men who also believe that to invest in the power and potential of women is to create a better society for us all. Therefore, though the conference is aimed at women ages 13 to 113, men are also encouraged to attend with their wives, girlfriends, daughters and friends.
Here’s the best part: For every adult ticket purchased, The Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference will sponsor one girl or woman who could otherwise not afford it, to attend the entire conference, meet the speakers, and enjoy a delightful lunch, free of charge. Included among those will be high school girls from local chapters of Girls Inc., including Girls Inc. of Alameda, Island City, and West Contra Costa, who all recently received the Global Citizen Award for Outstanding Achievement in Girls’ Education and Gender Equality from the UN Association. For over 50 years, these Girls Inc. affiliates have responded to the unique needs of girls in the most underserved communities of San Francisco’s East Bay through a continuum of academic enrichment programs that challenge girls to explore their potential, develop life skills, ensure college and career success, and expand their sense of what is possible, inspiring them to be “strong, smart, and bold.”
In addition to the speaker sessions The Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference encourages authors, artists, women-run and women-owned businesses to participate as vendors at the conference or as advertisers in our conference programme.
This year’s conference takes place at Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Sonoma County, CA, on Saturday, June 15, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., with a cocktail reception to follow at 6:00 p.m. with two wonderful live performances, one by award-winning standup comic, Joe Klocek (who will also be on our men’s panel again this year) and one by some talented young dancers from The Sonoma Conservatory of Dance, run by another our speakers, Patty O’Reilly. This year as well, participants will have the opportunity to walk through Sonoma Lavender fields, an invitation extended to us by another of our speakers, the co-founder of Sonoma Lavender, Rebecca Rosenberg.
I urge you to attend this conference and take advantage of the talent we’ve lined up, or participate as a vendor or advertiser. But if you can’t attend, please consider sponsoring a girl or making a donation, anyway.
On behalf of the committee for The Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference, I thank you and I hope you will join us.
Sincerely,
Patricia V. Davis, Founder of The Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference
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