Today I am attending the Women’s Conference in Long Beach, California which has gained substantial national prominence due to California First Lady Maria Shriver’s ability to reach out to various industry segments and present a roster of speakers, moderators and empowerment seminars for women for about 1.5 days.
The Shriver Report is the cornerstone of the 2009 Women’s Conference, also known as The California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women.
The Woman’s Nation, a term coined by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, is a complex and ever changing entity. Examining it from a business, economic, social, religious, political, and domestic stand point, Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress have created this fascinating and nuanced report to help us understand what it means to be a woman in today’s world.
Shriver had worked with a think tank headed by John Podesta in conjunction with TIME Magazine to put together a report on the state of the women in the US and what are the current issues and what changes and improvements have been made in the roles of women at home and in the workplace. There are many chapters to this book with authors and contributors that run the gamut rom Billie Jean King to Suze Orman, Susan Douglas to Courtney Martin, the list of contributors to The Shriver Report includes experts in economics, businss, sports, psychology, entertainment, and morewith many notable authors with significant reputations in the fields they are talking about. The introduction is by Maria Shriver and the epilogue is by Oprah Winfrey and edited by Heather Boushey and Ann O’Leary.
This is the podcast with Maria Shriver and John Podesta, President, Center for American Progress with 30 bloggers of which I was one. While they discussed many things with a thread tying the Women’s Conference to this report, only a few bloggers were able to ask questions. Thankfully they were highly incisive and relevant questions.
What’s interesting about this report is how far-reaching it is and the comments from people who have been involved in this venture.
“Women are on the cusp of a huge change, with mothers now the primary breadwinners in 2/3’s of American families. I am thrilled to see Maria’s report lay the groundwork for how society can better support the new American worker and the new American family. Her report acknowledges that recognizing this sea change is only the first step, with the second being to identify what we need to do to reshape the institutions around us. I believe that acknowledging and believing in one’s own self-worth will be even more critical for women to thrive both in the workplace and in the home as our culture adapts to these changes.”
Cheryl Saban, Ph.D., Author and Founder — The Women’s Self Worth Foundation
“The Shriver Report is the most important gathering of data and analysis of social issues to happen for women in the United States in over 50 years: It will change the character of our interpersonal relationships. It will be the criteria against which future social policies will be evaluate. It will recast the discussion about society’s need for women’s gifts. It will redefine the place of women in developing our nation. It will give the issues of the modern world a broader, deeper, more inclusive perspective. It will bring real equality and real respect for the skills and presence and insights of women as well as men in this country. And, as a result, we will be a stronger, more creative, more compassionate people.”
Sister Joan Chittister, OSB & Author, The Gift of Years; Co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women
You can find it online at The Shriver Report published by Simon & Schuster for you to download an ebook through major e-tailers. If you want to see bits and bites of this report, head to http://awomansnation.com/
This is but the first of many posts and podcasts about the issues of today that woman and the entire population face.
Stevie Wilson
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