MAKERS HONORS 2024 - Welcome Remarks

MAKERS HONORS 2024 - Welcome Remarks

JENNIFER SIEBEL NEWSOM

Video Transcript

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JENNIFER SIEBEL NEWSOM: Ooh, that was an extraordinary performance by the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Thank you all so much.

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Good evening. It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to California and to the first annual MAKERS Honors.

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What a beautiful venue. My goodness. I can't think of a better way to spend an evening than in community with such brilliant women and our allies as we show our gratitude and love for some of the greatest change-makers and rebel rousers of this generation. And I cannot stress enough how much we need all of you in this room, and watching, to continue to be the change our world so desperately needs as we partner to tear down cultural norms and structural barriers standing in the way of gender equality.

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Because, unfortunately, and, yes, unsurprisingly, the World Economic Forum estimates that it will take 131 years to achieve gender parity across education attainment, economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, and political empowerment. And it will take an alarming 257 more years just to close the gender pay gap. For women in the United States, we see this when women are paid, on average, $0.77 on the $1.00 compared to men, a figure that drops dramatically for mothers, women of color, and LGBTQ+ women.

We see it when women, who remain the default or she-fault caregivers for children and the elderly are underpaid, if they're even paid at all, despite how critical care work is to society's health and economy. We see it when, despite 51% of the US population, and birthing 100% of the population, women's basic right to bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom continues to be rolled back. And we see it when, as my husband, Governor Gavin Newsom, said recently, that, in response to the outrageous attacks on IVF in Alabama, that rapists have more of a right to become fathers than families that are desperately trying to become parents.

Yes. We see the trauma of violence against women over and over again since the abortion bans, wherein surfaced that 65,000 pregnancies in these red states were rape-related. And we see it when the number of Black and Brown women who die during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period remains staggeringly high. Now, by most data points, California actually leads the nation in gender equity. Yes.

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Yes, California. But we will not rest on our laurels. We can't, not when representation of women at the tables of power is unequal. And those tables remain dominated by men, men who perpetuate the patriarchy and whose leadership has worsened wealth inequality, climate change, mental health, and an extreme political divide.

We can't, not when we know that the gender wage and wealth gaps continue to perpetuate generational poverty and block women's economic security. And we can't, not when we know that gender-based violence has a tangible health care, criminal justice, and productivity costs to society in the billions, and an intangible cost to women's quality of life in the trillions. As a mother from California, a sister, an aunt, and a daughter, I surely cannot.

This work and my steadfast belief that gender equity is not only essential, but achievable-- it's personal. It's why I started California for All Women when my husband became governor in 2019, to center women's lived experiences and to empower them, moving the needle towards intersectional gender equity and justice once and for all. We want to ensure that women in California don't just survive, but thrive, as they live, work, raise children, care for elders, and retire in the Golden State. And we believe that, as California goes, so can go the nation and the world.

Now, partnership has been key to effecting real change and change we've seen, for example, with our Women on Boards initiative, which in just five years, and despite challenges by conservatives, has sparked a cultural shift, creating pathways for more diverse women to sit on California's public company boards, tripling the number of seats held by these women and reducing the number of all-male boards from 29% all-male boards in 2018 to only 1% today.

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This proves that women have more of a reason to be hopeful than discouraged, because, remember, we've proven time and time again that we will not be defeated.

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We've seen this firsthand in California when California voters enshrined the right to an abortion into our state, protecting the fate and future of ourselves and our families. And we saw it nationally--

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As women across the country stood up and said "me too," creating a movement that still permeates society today. So I'm confident, standing here tonight, that we have what we need to right this ship for women and girls not just across this country, but around the world, remembering that gender equality is not just a woman's issue, it's a human rights issue. And it's one that we can all solve together. In partnership always, thank you, MAKERS. Onwards.

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