Page 14 - California Woman Fall 2022

National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs:

Biennial Report, California Federation.

The mission of the California Federation is to promote and support equity for
working women in all phases of their lives and to promote personal empowerment
and professional development.

The report period covers the term of the Immediate Past President, Lynn
Brandstater, whose theme was “Advocate, Believe, Communicate.” The report pe-
riod coincides with the Covid pandemic. The COVID affected our communities, our
businesses and our personal lives, as it did worldwide. Therefore, stabilizing and
supporting the Districts and clubs and learning new ways to communicate, i.e.,
Zoom, became the priorities. Member numbers fortunately remained stable.

All of the California Federation members deserve to be recognized for excel-
lence, but particularly those members serving at the National and International lev-
els during the reporting period. They include: Sher Singh, Sandy Thompson, Ashley
Maria, Katherine Winans, Keri Hess, Manjul Batra, Linda Wilson, Barbara J. Davis,
Lynn Brandstater, Marjory Hopper, Michelle Proctor, Jane Taff and this President. A
special accolade is due Linda Wilson, who celebrated 50 years of BPW membership.

The California Federation supports a Public Policy Statement to guide mem-
ber involvement in issues and legislative advocacy. The number one item on the
Statement is the Alice Paul’s Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). For the reporting pe-
riod, the focus issue to guide education, programming and advocacy was the elimi-
nation of all forms of sexual harassment. Beginning in May, 2022 and continuing
through 2024, there are two focus issues. The first one is reproductive justice for
all women, in particular by increasing access to reproductive and sexual healthcare.
The second one is to protect voting rights for all eligible voters including women.

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