The California Governor & First Lady's Conference on Women (also known as The Women's Conference) was established by California Governor George Deukmejian in 1985 as a non-partisan forum for women small business owners. At that time, women-owned businesses were failing at a high rate and the conference was created to provide support to this growing sector of the economy and help women access funding and resources.
In 1989, the conference was established as a non-profit public interest organization with a bi-partisan Board of Directors, which ensured that it could continue without interruption during changes in administrations.
Under California Governor Pete Wilson's administration, the focus of the Conference shifted to include the needs of a wider audience, including corporate women. An educational scholarship program was added to the conference during Wilson's term.
The conference continued to grow its attendance and expand its outreach during the administration of Governor Gray Davis. A youth leadership program was added to the conference during Davis's term.
Under California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver's leadership, the California Governor & First Lady's Conference on Women, renamed The Women's Conference, has reportedly become the largest one-day conference for women in the nation. Since 2004, conference participants have included such high-profile speakers as His Holiness the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, Oprah Winfrey, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Sarah, Duchess of York, Barbara Walters, Jane Fonda, Queen Noor of Jordan, Martha Stewart, Tyra Banks, Tim Russert, Tom Brokaw, Queen Rania of Jordan, Maureen Dowd, Sandra Day O'Connor, Thomas Friedman, Anna Quindlen, and Billie Jean King.
The conference has been located at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California since 1993.
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“This land is your land, this land is my land,
From California to the New York Island.
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.”
—Woody Guthrie (1912–1967)
“I saw the man my friend ... wants pardoned, Thomas Flinton. He is a bright, good-looking fellow.... Of his innocence all are confident. The governor strikes me as a man seeking popularity, who lacks the independence and manhood to do right at the risk of losing popularity. Afraid of what will be said. He is prejudiced against the Irish and Democrats.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“I knew you forever and you were always old,
soft white lady of my heart. Surely you would scold
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—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
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—Walter Wellesley (Red)
“To enumerate the different trades by which the women in New York are endeavoring—not to live—that for many of them is as utterly unattainable a goal as the end of the rainbow—but simply to postpone as long as possible their appearance at the morgue or the cemetery—to attempt to do this would be useless.”
—Katharine Pearson Woods (1853–1923)