The United State Of Women Summit

On Tuesday June 14, the White House is convening a summit focused on women and girls, and the actions it will take to continue to move gender equality forward in the United States. The event will be held at the White House and hosted by first lady Michelle Obama and media mogul Oprah Winfrey (two of the powerful women we suggest you follow on Twitter).

The summit is a collaboration of the White House Council on Women and Girls, the Department of Labor, the Aspen Institute and Civic Nation. As the Washington Post reports, “Women from around the world applied to attend the conference, posting videos on social media making a case for why they deserved an invitation. If you didn’t get yours, you can nevertheless watch a live stream of the event here.

The conference will focus on six topics: equal pay, women’s health care, education, violence against women, entrepreneurship and leadership, as well as civic engagement. Our own co-founder Romy Newman will be moderating a panel on how to make a case for gender diversity across industries and sectors.

The work of gender equality isn’t just a political issue for policy makers. While legislatures certainly play an important role (e.g. in paid family leave laws and in providing legal protections for women in the workplace and for equal pay), private sector employers also can support women by implementing policies and fostering corporate cultures that support women.

The issues of education, unconscious bias and gender equality at work in the form of equal pay and gender parity in leadership are all intertwined so a summit dedicated to these topics is an amazing way to raise awareness and bring forward solutions to hard — and persistent - problems. Each one of us can do our part and the Summit organizers have suggested a few things you can do to get involved.

If you're looking to get more involved with gender equality issues, be sure to join in the conversation in our community and share what you know with other women in the workplace!

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