Women’s Empowerment Conference 2024
A chance for women to feel empowered
We live in a patriarchal world where men are on the top and women are on the bottom. Women suffer from gender pay gaps, and being seen as property and as less than men. It’s the horrors of history, but now in 2024 it is time to overcome that and become empowered. Anyone who identifies as a woman, no matter their race or sexual orientation, needs to become more empowered and rise above this patriarchal society. It is unfair that being a woman is the only reason behind disrespect. It is unfair that women have to worry about their clothing or walking out at night without company.
For this Women’s History Month Pacific will be hosting a Women’s Empowerment Conference on March 22 at 8:30am-4pm for the students and the community. At this conference students, staff, and alumni come together to attend different workshops that encourage women’s empowerment. The conference will provide a safe space for everyone to talk about their personal experiences about being a woman in America. We will gain advice and tools that will help us grow into strong, independent, and empowered women.
The workshops will exemplify women’s excellence and empowerment. There will be six different workshops and one keynote speaker. Daphanee Valdez will be facilitating the Self-Care Through Hilot, Filipinx Art of Healing. In the workshop we will do exercises of the Filipinx indigenous healing art through gentle self-touch and storytelling and encouraged by the community through liberated love. Canderaria Vargas and Mariela Frias will facilitate the Taboos in Reproductive Health workshop where attendees will get insight into the taboos around reproductive health care, bodily empowerment, consent, and resources for health education. Robin Angela Balietto will facilitate the Speak Up: Reclaim Your Voice and Personal Power workshop. In this workshop attendees will discuss societal pressures on women and the ‘good girl’ complex. Attendees will experience the chance to embrace their power and self-discovery through meditations, exercises, and personal aspirations. Dr. Nancy Huante-Tzintzun and Camille Cruz Zapata will facilitate the Plantita Roots: Remembering and Reconnecting to Chicana Ways of Healing where attendees will learn about the destruction of the natural world. There will be reflection and dispelling on past colonial influences on health and wellness with exercises using herbal remedies and spiritual connection with writing a letter to our ancestors. Tracy Sanders will facilitate the Personal Appearance & The Law where attendees will discuss hair, makeup, wardrobe, tattoos, piercing, and additional beauty choices that can affect appearance discrimination in the workplace. Finally, Anisa Henry and Karen Tom will facilitate the Financial Foundations for Women where attendees will learn about navigating personal financial goals, financial planning, and maximizing personal financial plan. It will empower the attendees to take charge of their futures and take the steps necessary to achieve their goals.
The keynote speaker will be Dr. Jennifer L. Eberhardt (not the same person from the Eberhardt School of Business). She is a social psychologist who studied at the University of Cincinnati for undergrad and Harvard University for her masters and doctorate in psychology. She was a Psychology and African Americans Studies professor at Yale University. She currently is a psychology professor, the Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor of Public Policy, and a Faculty Director for SPARQ (an initiative to use social psychology research to address social issues) at Stanford University. She will highlight the negative effects of racial biases and on how to combat it through social science to lead to equal justice.
The Women’s Empowerment Conference will give anyone who identifies as a woman the opportunity to build sisterhood, network, build relationships, and make connections. This is an opportunity for people who identify as female to stand tall and not let their gender stand in their way for success. As women we need to continue to step forward and become empowered in our womanhood. No longer sit quietly when we have been a victim to any kind of abuse, but to speak out for what is right and wrong. To reclaim ourselves and not longer let the patriarchy walk over us and try to claim us for themselves. This conference will help with building the necessary skills to do just that.