Yesterday, I was one of the masses (and I mean masses) of women, and a couple of men in the audience for the United State of Women conference, sponsored by The White House. I was blown away by 11-year-old kidpreneur Mikaila Ulmer, who started Me and the Bees lemonade. There were so many amazing women that I was able to connect with and catch up with. Seeing President Obama speak for the first time live was a huge high point. (I did miss the First Lady and Oprah because everything was running late. Thank you Uncle Joe.) One of the first things out of the President’s mouth was, “I may be a bit grayer, but this is what a feminist looks like.”
The Summit featured speakers on a number of subjects, including economic empowerment, health and wellness, education, leadership, and violence against women.
Hollywood heavyweights like Oprah Winfrey, Shonda Rhimes, Amy Poehler, Mariska Hargitay, Connie Britton, Patricia Arquette, and Kerry Washington joined President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and First Lady Michelle Obama to speak.
Arquette, whose impassioned speech about income inequality in Hollywood at the 2015 Oscars went viral, continued on the topic. As Deadline reported, Arquette said that, “It took the ‘typical woman’ until April 12 of this year ‘to earn what a typical man had made in 2015,’ she noted. For African American women, that equal pay day will not arrive until August 2. For Latinas, it’s November 1. ‘This is economic suppression,’ Arquette said, and helps explain why ‘we have 66 million women and children living in poverty and 33 million would not be if women were paid their full dollar.’”
Rhimes hates the word “diversity.” In her segment, Deadline notes, she explained that, “When she gets a suggestion to ‘get a writer who is diverse,’ she said, her response is, ‘A person is not diverse… Color of skin is not what makes people diverse.’ Content should look to create the ‘actual world,’ she said simply. ‘I have a real problem with that concept of being revolutionary,’ she said, describing what she does as creating a world ‘that looks like the world looks.’ “I don’t understand why that’s revolutionary.’”
Winfrey interviewed First Lady Michelle Obama and asked what men could do to help the cause. “Be better,” Obama said bluntly. “Be better. At everything. Be better fathers. Love your daughters and provide a solid example of what it means to be a good man in the world. Be engaged. Don’t think that just going to work and coming home makes you a man. Be a better employer. Do you see only a bunch of men around you at the golf course, and you’re okay with that? Be better. Just be better. I could go on and on, but I won’t. You got the point?”
