Galvanize California conference on gender equity held at Sac State

The United States of Women hosted the event to encourage collaboration

Kendra L. Rivera

The United State of Women held Galvanize, CA at Sacramento State Saturday. The event is meant to support gender equity through coalition collaborations at the national and local level.

Kendra Rivera-Molina
October 27, 2019

The United State of Women held Galvanize California at Sacramento State Saturday, a conference focused on supporting gender equity through local organizations and teaching leadership and entrepreneurship skills to attendees. 

USOW describes itself as “a national organization dedicated to convening, connecting, and amplifying voices in the fight for full gender equity.”

The Galvanize program is hosted in different states to bring “together women and allies to hear from an inspiring combination of local and national experts at the forefront of the fight for gender equity” according to USOW’s website.

The event at Sac State held tables from organizations like the Women Democrats of Sacramento County, WEAVE and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.

Jordan Brooks, executive director of USOW, said the goal of the event was to bring all the organizations and nonprofits USOW works with to collaborate.

“We wanted to make sure that this was happening all over the country,” Brooks said. “Now we have ambassadors that are working to build coalitions of women’s groups to work together and to share solutions to take action on gender equality.”

Molly Nugent, Sacramento’s ambassador for USOW, reiterated the message that Galvanize California wants to connect organizations that are dedicated to fighting gender inequality.

“The idea is thinking of ways to collaborate and uplift each other in these very arduous times,” Nugent said. “It’s a great space to meet other people who are doing the same work.”

Workshops at the event were concentrated on the topics of, entrepreneurship, community organization, leadership and running for office.

Sacramento State’s Brown Issues student organization was one of the groups that attended the event, leading a workshop on community organizing. Sacramento City College freshman and member of Brown Issues Edith Grace Williams spoke on one of the panels for the event.

On the panel, Williams said people in the indigenous community are being murdered without acknowledgment.

“There is an issue that no one wants to talk about,” Williams said. “My family has gone missing, and no one is speaking up for them.”

The Urban Indian Health Institute noted in a 2018 report titled “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls” that 5,712 cases of missing or murdered indigenous women and girls were reported in 2016, but only 116 were logged in the Department of Justice’s database.

Murder is the third leading cause of death for both American Indian and Alaska Native women.

“A lot of families go missing. People don’t recognize it does happen to people,” Williams said. “Let’s have the words come out. The only thing that is going to be true is your voice. Question your surroundings and always make sure you are safe.”

Eduardo Moreno, a political science major at Sac State, said he attended the ‘Run for Office’ workshop.

“We do need more women to run for office, there is a lot of cultural differences in expectations of gender,” Moreno said. “And we need to battle that and empower women.”

Women currently hold 23.7 percent of federal office seats, according to catalyst.org.

Moreno said that the workshop taught him skills to remain aware of his position as a male in politics.

“We don’t give the same coverage of women in history like (we do) men,” he said.

Courtney Seard, a trainer with USOW, held the leadership workshop, focusing on the idea of “leading from within.”

“Leadership means to serve and lead by example, energy goes where your attention flows,” Seard said. “Take action and move forward. Everyone is a leader. How you lead yourself matters.”