"Women At The Table of Power" 2007 WAND/WiLL Conference

This is the paper I wrote for credit and extra credit (two different classes) about the conference. Hope you enjoy it!

“Women At The Table of Power” 2007 WAND/WiLL Conference

This past weekend, I attended the conference “Women At The Table of Power” which was put on by WiLL (Women Legislators’ Lobby) and WAND (Women’s Action for New Directions). WiLL is a nation-wide organization of women legislators (state and federal) whose goal is to “influence federal policy and budget priorities” while encouraging women leadership. It was created in 1991 as a program of WAND, which is also nation-wide and has members of all ages and backgrounds. WAND’s members are mostly women, but men may also be members and supporters. WAND’s mission is similar to that of WiLL’s but is for non-legislators. Every two years WiLL and WAND collaborate to put on a conference to educate, empower and provide support to its members, to network, and to culminate the conference by lobbying together on Capital Hill. This year, my Grandma (who is a WAND member) decided to come to DC to attend the conference and suggested that I attend, as well. At first I hesitated giving up a weekend of study time to participate, but now I am extremely glad that I did.

Every day of the 3-day conference provided many new and amazing opportunities and experiences. I had the opportunity to meet state and federal legislators from around the country and heard speakers such as Jane Fonda (who I also had the pleasure of meeting), Carol Jenkins (president of The Women’s Media Center), the newly elected Senator Laura Richardson, and Alice Lynch and the Honorable Dorothy Rupert (two amazing women who were nominated, as part of 1000 women from around the world, for the Nobel Peace Prize). The speakers spoke on subjects such as national spending (e.g. “Our Nation’s Checkbook: What does it tell us and how do we act for change?”), and encouraging female leadership (e.g. “Understanding Women’s Attitudes toward peace and Security”).

As a young person, I gained much from the conference. Everyone I talked to was extremely supportive and encouraging of me and my future endeavors - whatever they turn out to be. I received advice from women young and old, and felt wonderfully included and welcomed wherever I went during the conference. I came away from the conference feeling empowered, informed, but also shocked. I learned about issues that could have been avoided and that still could be remedied if only the general populace new about them. The best example of this is in the spending of our tax dollars.

Currently, we spend $502,000,000,000 (502 billion dollars) on the Pentagon. That’s 54% of the Federal Discretionary Budget and doesn’t even include money for Homeland Security or the Iraq War (Office of Management and Budget Historical Tables, Table 8.9 Budget Authority for Discretionary Programs). It would only take approximately $20 billion of that money to put all children on health care. Today, only one in nine children have health care, which is an abominable statistic for a country with such wealth and prosperity as ours. Even if we created national child heath care, we would still have plenty for military spending, and then some. As it is, the Pentagon is not even required to create a budget or tell us exactly where the $502 billion of our tax dollars are being spent. Is this really wise? Shouldn’t the money be going to education and healthcare - problems that are affecting our citizens now and that will affect the future? We spend twice as much in military spending than the rest of the world
does --combined -anyway.

Another interesting bit of information I learned was about women’s voting. Currently, young, unmarried women of minority are the majority of unregistered voters. Some register one year, but because of their frequent address changes, they are not registered the next. As 52% of the population are women, the large number of unregistered women could have a lot of weight in the next election (Lake).

Despite the lack of women’s involvement in politics, it was very reassuring to see all of the questions that were asked during panel discussions being asked by Representatives and Senators. It felt really good to see these women speak up with specific questions on how they should use this information to better represent their constituents and steer this country. I found it very reassuring to know that there are people who are genuinely working to make this country a better place and, with all the government scandals in the papers, are really working for the benefit of the people of the USA.

This conference taught me so much and gave me a much better understanding of myself and life in general. These Senators, Representatives, famous people... I realized that they are just women, too. And meeting them and seeing them (and almost rooming with one of them) helped me to remember my potential and and the that my dreams may not be as unattainable as they occasionally seem.


Lake, Celinda. “Understanding Women’s Attitudes toward Peace and Security.” 2007 WiLL/WAND Conference. Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC. 1 Oct. 2007.

An interesting website: < www.defenselink.mil/contracts >