National Young Feminist Leadership Conference

This past weekend, members from my campus’s chapter of FMLA (Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance) went to the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. Despite the fact that it was a conference, which involves a lot of lectures and speakers and not much else, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed my experience there. When my group first walked into the conference area, I was immediately struck by how many awesome ladies there were in one lobby. Girls of all shapes and sizes, cool hair, piercings, sweet outfits and the exciting fact that we were all feminists and not afraid to claim that part of ourselves. I could barely contain my happiness. I wanted to be friends with all of them.

Our first assembly was on women’s reproductive rights. My favorite speaker and new feminist idol was Eleanor Smeal, the president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. When she spoke about the healthcare bill and the Stupak bill (which was being voted on in Congress while we were there), her passion and enthusiasm was contagious. Afterwards, I attended a workshop on queer feminist issues. We talked a lot about Prop 8 and other legislation. It made me motivated to keep track of state and local legislature in my area so I could vote and rally to make a difference where I can. After lunch, I went to workshop on gendered impact of climate change. It was interesting to see how women are affected by scarce water because, as cookers and cleaners of the home, they are the ones who walk dangerous lengths to find it. Finally, we had our last assembly of the day which was on women’s jobs in the economy. Basically, we learned that women, especially young women, face higher unemployment rates in the current economy. Considering I graduate soon, this was encouraging. Not.

Later that night, we had a “social mixer” at Annie’s Steakhouse in downtown D.C. with the purpose of networking with other conference attendees. When we got there, it was packed and we were hungry. A friend and I went to the empty bar to eat, drink, and get mysteriously free shots from the bartender. We met a few feminists from Texas which I felt was reassuring, considering their typically conservative area. Overall, it was a great end to the first day.

The next morning, we went back to the conference where we attended the first assembly of the day on women’s rights on the global stage. We had a surprise celebrity speaker, Tamara Tunie, most famously known for her role as the coroner in Law and Order: SVU. The assembly focused on the preventability of maternal mortality rates in Africa and third world countries. Next, attendees broke off into regional caucus groups according to areas of the country (we were in the East Coast group). Here, we got to ask specific questions on what we can do with our chapters on campus, how to fundraise or recruit, what are some upcoming national events to participate in, etc. After breaking for a warm sunny lunch, we attended our last workshop on how abortion works. It covered statistics and rates on who gets abortion, why, at what point in the pregnancy, what risks there are, etc. We even got to hold the vacuum syringe that performs the abortion. It demystified the procedure, demonstrating that it is safe, quick and much more preferable when it is legalized. Finally, we had our last assembly of the weekend which was essentially a pep rally from notable feminist figures, including Shelby Knox from The Education of Shelby Knox, a documentary that I highly recommend.

If anyone is in a FMLA chapter on their campus or is in other feminist or women’s groups, I would highly recommend looking into this conference for next year. I learned a lot, felt a strengthening of my feminist beliefs and felt energized to go back into the real world and rally for women’s rights.