Women's Empowerment Conference
The Women’s Empowerment Conference first ran in the spring of 2017 as an addition to the ETHS Social Consciousness Series. The pilot event was co-developed with the Partnership Office together with a student from Senior Studies who was interested in created a full day workshop for young womxn, trans and non-binary students at ETHS. The event uses an affinity space model to create the opportunity for learning, growth, community, and dialogue about gender as a social construct, sexism and misogyny. Conversations and workshop sessions are designed to decenter whiteness while explicitly building community that honors intersectional identities that participants hold.
Each year the Women’s Empowerment Conference draws an audience of ETHS seniors and is led by a group of ETHS student leads. Collaboration in design and inspiration for the event draws from many different areas including SOAR, WiSTEM, the Northwestern Women’s Center, and Leadership Development & Community Engagement.