Women In Secularism 2 was a success. It had all the pieces that make a conference worth going to: accomplished and up-and-coming speakers, diverse panelists, a clear mandate and good locale. Washington D.C. is a great place to be inspired for political and social change. The conference was well managed when it came to scheduling and accepting questions from the audience which made the weekend easier to enjoy. There is nothing worse than disorganization, especially when a room is packed with seats full of bums and heads full of opinions.
The speakers held a wide range of topics. An entire spectrum of the female experience was covered from personal stories of ex-pastors and community building to the exciting history and future prospects of women in secularism. They all had one message in common though; an indication of importance when addressing the issue of how to act in order to promote equality. Simply put: show up. Show up to conferences, show up to support each other in your communities, show up to work and write, show up to raise quotas, to represent and inspire. Laying low and assuming change will happen with or without you is lame. Canadians have a false sense of security when it comes to the maintenance of their rights and freedoms. If every secular voice stayed quiet, religious groups would quickly infect us with the plague. So kudos to those Canadians that did show up and of course to the Center For Inquiry USA for leading the way.
I would like to attend again next year but I will make two suggestions. . . First, plan ahead with CFI Canada to ensure that WIS3 and Imagine No Religion 4 are not scheduled on the same weekend. I’m sure there were other people who wanted to attend both conferences. Second, more male speakers please. Women’s equality has and will always be an issue of our entire society. Both women and men should be informed and active. It is men who are normally blamed for inequality but women can be just as guilty of promoting negative stereotypes and upholding the status quo. Shouldn’t men in secularism be just as represented in this conference? Why does WIS choose to preach to the converted? Talking about representation in quotas, men-in-women-in-secularism has got a ring to it.
This discussion is considered by Colin Stokes in his TED Talk called, How Movies Teach Manhood. It gives fantastic examples of our very real situation that is both men and women need to think and act together to change collective consciousness.
I came home happy, with new perspectives to engage in, stories to inspire me and an extensive list of references to follow up on. Thank you everyone for showing up.