>> and now, from abc-7, "beyond the headlines" with cheryl jennings. >> thanks for joining us. today we're talking about the pbwc -- the professional business women of california conference that's a big annual event -- 5,000 people attend and it always sells out. it's coming up on march 28th. the theme is "inclusion now," and it so relevant, especially since we have a new year, a new administration, and for some people that means new hope and excitement. the stock market is soaring. but many other feel alarmed and concerned as though they don't have a voice in the changes that are happening. joining us now is the founder of pbwc. she is an outspoken advocate for human rights. congresswoman jackie speier joins us today. thank you so much for being here today. >> it's always great to be with you, cheryl. >> you are the founder of pbwc, and we're gonna get to that in just a few moments, but you're making a big effort to let people know that they have a voice. you're holding a series of town hall meetings.

so, tell me what people are saying. >> there's great anxiety, and i feel it's incumbent on me to assuage some of their concerns, to tap down the anxiety, the angst, and many of their concerns revolve around the sense that the constitution is being ignored. whether it's putting gag orders in place within the epa and other departments, whether or not it's the affordable care act becoming defunct. i had one mother yesterday who said to me, "my son has asthma. we were four days in the hospital. if i didn't have the affordable care act, we'd be bankrupt today." so there's a lot of human concern about where we're going. >> you founded this organization a long time ago. >> 29 years ago. >> that's hard to believe. >> yes. >> why did you found it? >> well, at the time, i wanted to create a place for women to

come together and to network and to do professional development. i did this on the heels -- this was going way back in time when mothers were coming back into the workforce after having their children, and then i thought, well, we needed something for women who were in professional and management positions. so that's how it was created. it was spun off as a nonprofit. it's survived and thrived over many decades now, and it does bring together women every year and then during the year -- lots of smaller events that they can take advantage of. so it's become a membership organization, as well. >> i found that it's, because i've gone to some of those meetings, great mentoring no matter where you are. >> yes. >> whether you're beginning as a volunteer or an intern, or somebody who's already achieved. "how do i get better at what i do?" so i really enjoy that. something happened after the inauguration that a lot of people say has never happened

before. there were marches by people who have never taken part in a march all over the world. what do you make of that? >> it's the biggest march in the history of this country. over 3 million men and women across our country marched, and then as you pointed out, across the world. it is pushing back on this nationalistic movement that's going on around the world. not just here in the united states, it's going on in other places, as well. and i think people are gaining their voices back. when i had this town hall, probably half the people said they had never been engaged before. so americans are waking up, that we have a great country, we have a very strong constitution, and we're not gonna let anyone tread on it. >> speaking of the constitution, the era -- the equal rights amendment -- now, that was passed by the senate back in

1972. that's like 45 years ago. never ratified by the states. and you had a few comments about that recently and i'd like to play a clip of that right now. >> the fight for equality has never been easy. when you look back in time, the suffragettes were beaten and jailed. the civil rights movement -- those men and women who walked down capital mall were jailed and beaten. our own john lewis was beaten crossing the bridge in selma. workers trying to negotiate rights were beaten and jailed. >> so you said that it's time now to bring this back. you think it has a chance of getting passed now? >> well, when you think back at it, 35 states ratified it. we were three states short. for some reason, there was a time frame placed in the preamble of the actual

amendment. now, not all of these amendments have preambles that put time limitations on it. this one had it. the congress then extended it. so we're attempting to just get rid of that timetable and allow it to be able to work its way in other states, including nevada, virginia, and illinois which are prime to take it up. what's most interesting is to hear the late antonin scalia, the supreme court justice who was asked this question. he says, "certainly there's nothing in the constitution that requires discrimination based on sex. the only question is whether it prohibits it. it does not." and that is what's critical. 94% of the population thinks it's in the constitution already. and when you ask the question "should it be in?" 76% say "of course it should be in." so its time has come. now, why has it not happened? there's lots of speculation about that. but as long as we don't have it in the constitution, that means not only do you have to

establish that someone discriminated against you. you have to establish that they intended to discriminate against you. that's a much harder standard. >> i notice that you're wearing pink. you normally wear red. >> [ laughing ] i know! >> so there's a method to you madness. >> there is. i think pink's my new color. >> all right, so that's about the pink tax. so explain what that is. >> so, the pink tax reflects the fact that women pay more for the same products and services. when i was in state legislature, we did pass a bill that i carried that says you can't discriminate based on sex and the service you're providing, whether it's dry cleaning or hair cutting, it has to be based on the amount of time it takes to do that service. we also now are looking at products. and you'd be surprised at how many products are in the marketplace where the pink version costs more. sometimes 12% more, sometimes as much as 35% more. two teddy bears -- one blue, one pink. the pink one, 12% more.

basketballs. children's basketballs. pink one, 35% more than the blue one. you can go to the local pharmacy. razors -- much more expensive for women than men. >> just because they can get away with it? >> just because they can get away with it. we've got to stop it. and women still earn, remember, 79 to 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man. there's still not the same equality in terms of equal pay for equal work. and on top of it, there's this gender discrimination. so we're gonna get rid of the pink tax. >> [ laughs ] the era is more relevant now than ever before, it seems. you started this 29 years ago. this bill was supposedly passed 45 years ago. where have we come? >> not far enough. >> the numbers you're telling me show that we have a long way to go. >> yeah. you know, we think that things are good until we actually drill

down and find out they're not that good and that there still is serious discrimination. whether it's discrimination in title ix in terms of the way cases are handled with sexual assault on college campuses or rape in the military -- i mean, you can go through sexual harassment in academia where women who are in graduate school are being sexually harassed by their advisors. i mean, it is still pretty pervasive, and it's time. it's really time to move beyond that. >> are you concerned about the inclusion now of women in the military and the lgbt movement to be more inclusive, which is a theme at the pbwc conference? i mean, we would all like that. we would like to say that we're inclusive, but will that happen soon enough? >> it is happening. it's at a slow pace, but we have our first women who have moved through the training, have been equal in their ability to do the

physical work necessary in a number of our settings in the military services. so they're gonna be on the front lines. they were on the front lines before. i mean, we have members who are serving in the u.s. senate who had their legs blown off. tammy duckworth. i mean, that wasn't at the front lines? of course it was. so we're getting there, but it's been a slog. >> a lot of people feel as though they don't have a voice. what are ways they can contribute to feel as though they have some power? you mentioned town hall meetings. are there other ways? >> yes, you know, i want to underscore the fact that communication with the president, with your congressional representatives is key. phone calls and letters, ironically -- e-mails are not as effective right now because that's how most of us communicate. so there's not the visual nature. if i get 100 phone calls into my office, that jars me one way or the other.

>> jump the issue up to the top, right? >> i can get 100 e-mails every day, but it doesn't have the same impact. letters coming in. >> but in the meantime, we are gonna provide websites for our viewers to contact their local legislators to say whatever they want to say. by snail mail or e-mail or phone calls. >> excellent. >> thank you so much for being here. we'll see you at the conference. >> all right. very good. >> and we do need to take a short break. we're gonna have those links for you on ways to reach your state senate and congressional representatives on our website. when we come back, pbwc's alexandra roddy will be here to talk about some of the exciting guests at the conference. stay with us, we'll be right back.

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>> welcome back. we have been talking about the upcoming professional business women of california conference and the theme this year, which is "inclusion now." alex roddy joins us. she is the president of the board of pbwc and the global head of marketing for prologis, the world's leading owner, operator, and developer of industrial real estate. that is a big job. but being board president of

pbwc, that's a big job, too. that's a pleasure and a privilege. i have to say, that is a pleasure and a privilege. thank you. >> the timing for the theme couldn't be more appropriate -- "inclusion now." >> absolutely. >> so, everybody's talking about this. what does that theme mean to you? >> well, for me personally, i'm a parent of a child of color, so i think very carefully about inclusion all the time. and it seems to me that your constitutional rights and your access to opportunity should in no way be influenced by your gender, by your race, by your age, by any other physical characteristic, your sexuality. that's not what the world is about anymore. the world is about trying to harness the best possible talent to the best possible use, and that's not correlated with being white or being male. those two attributes -- those are attributes that can give you access, but there are lots of people who don't have access and who should. so it's really time for

inclusion in this country. >> after the inauguration, there were marches all over the world by women, some of whom had never participated in a march before, with their daughters, and some people stayed home and they were angry about it and said, "that doesn't relate to me," but some say it did relate to them. so what are your thoughts on that? in fact, before we get to that, you sent a tweet out, and i want to show folks at home about what you said on twitter. and you said, "i'm marching for inclusion now. join me. #pbwc" >> yes, i mean, i just think that the country is facing so many difficult, even maybe intractable problems. i mean, education isn't working for people. our elders live alone and in poverty at the end of their days. the climate is changing. the data is in on that. we are running out of fossil fuels. if we want to have the great country and the great companies that are the promise of the united states, we need to include everyone. we need to find all of the best and the brightest, no matter

their background, and we need to bring them to the table together to work on these challenges and these opportunities because it's our responsibility to leave a better world for those who are coming up behind us. so inclusion is incredibly important, i believe, to making that so. >> and that means men and women. now, raising a son -- what are your conversations with him these days? >> [ laughs ] well, my son is a pretty aware young man. he grew up with a single mother. he is native american, so he's very connected to people of color in this country. but i do tell him that despite the fact that, you know, he does come from an under-represented group, he has a great deal of privilege. and i think what that means for all of us who have privilege, and that includes me, for sure, is that we have to look to the left and we have to look to the right and we have to see who doesn't have access and we have to bring them along. we have to try to level the playing field for them. and as we're doing that, then we need to turn our attention to changing the game entirely.

so there are two levels that we have to be operating on. and he and i talk about that all the time. i think it's very important to us. >> you have some amazing speakers. so tell us about those. >> oh, we have fabulous speakers, my goodness! memory banda. she is a citizen of malawi. she is at the tender age of 20, one of that country and possible the world's most important advocates for putting an end to child marriage. child marriage, which is just an unthinkable premise, is very common in malawi, and her own sister was married as a child. so memory banda is gonna be a big part of the equation. i'm also incredibly excited about nandita bakhshi. she is the c.e.o. of bank of the west, right here in san francisco. she is an indian-american woman. she started her career as a teller handing out cash, and today, she is the c.e.o. calling

the shots. and she as a human being is incredibly charismatic, strategic, warm, and inclusive in her very nature. so she's amazing. >> and i bet that you have a call to action. >> yes. when you look to the left and to the right and you see someone who does not have the same access to opportunity that you do, you can and you should lift them up, bring them into the equation, and then when you're done helping, you turn around and you try to get others to change the game because it's going to make a better world for all of us. >> it's all about lifting everybody up with us. >> it is. together we will rise. forget glass ceilings, forget ceilings altogether. just imagine a world in which the full glory of human possibility joins together to makes this world a much, much better place for everyone. >> oh, i love that. all right. got to be there. thank you so much, alex. we'll see you at the conference. >> thank you for having me.

i totally appreciate it. >> and we'll be back in just a moment.

>> welcome back. we've been talking about the upcoming professional business women of california conference, which is now sold out. former secretary of state hillary clinton is joining the list of impressive speakers such as taraji p. henson and rosario dawson. our next guest embraces this year's theme which is "inclusion now." lesley slaton brown is the chief diversity office at hp, and she will be leading a

seminar at the pbwc conference. thank you for being here. >> i am so delighted, cheryl. thank you. >> you have a lot of experience talking about diversity and inclusion -- 22 years at hp. >> yes. >> off and on. wow. all right. so you've been a speaker before pbwc. why did you want to get involved and stay involved? >> you know, when you think about empowering and inspiring women, how can you not want to get involved, right? it's exciting for me because at hp, it's our primary focus. how do we get more women, one, in, feel welcome, which is the "inclusion now" theme, which really excites me, and once you get them in, how do you promote? how you promote from within? and so the conference in itself leaves women with skills -- women and men -- with skills to get in and take action. >> so for folks who cannot get there because it's sold out, how do you get in, first of all? >> well, there are a number of

ways, and so if you think about the internet -- the opportunities on the internet, whether it's youtube and tedx talks or those different things... hp, if you go visit our site, we have many, many opportunities for students, for internships, for new-grad hires, for early career, for mid-career -- anything you want in the technology industry. >> i think that one of the things, and i remember this from a million years ago when i was a kid... i was great at math until i discovered boys, and then i lost my mind and wasn't very good at math and only later realized that that was a failing on my part. so it wouldn't -- i could not be successful in that world. so what do you say to encourage girls to be good in science and math when everybody is saying, "no, no, no, no, no?" >> well, you know, the interesting this is that math is a catalyst for science, for stem

careers and computing. and so what we like to do is, one, really encourage young girls to stay with it, and part of that starts with confidence. and so some of the programs that we run in our outreach to the community -- hp's vision is around making life better for everyone everywhere. and so we start with our communities. we deploy our volunteers to go out and work in schools. so it gives young girls and young girls of color an opportunity to see women that look like them in this stem career field. >> and you've got to do your homework. >> definitely, and stay away from the boys. [ laughs ] >> at least until you get your grades up, right? >> exactly. >> oh, i know, i feel like such a idiot about that. so, how is -- over your two decades at hp, off and on and in the silicon valley, what have you seen as far as changes go? >> i've seen a lot of change. i've seen the evolution of diversity being the right thing to do to it being the best thing

to do as a business imperative. and so that's what excites me because my background is in global marketing, and one of the things that i focused on was really being able to look at growth markets. and when you start looking at and you start dissecting and segmenting those markets out, it's no different when you look at the innovation, the creativity that's needed. it's bringing in and it's welcoming broad perspectives to the table. get there, have your voice heard, make impact. >> i think that for those who still do not, sadly, value women's opinions, how can we have the confidence to say, "yes, we are important, our opinion matters?" it's that confidence thing again. >> yeah, it is the confidence thing again, and it's funny because at hp, we started -- when we split into two companies, we started with creating the most diverse board of directors in the tech industry within the u.s. and so we're now at 40% women,

23% ethnic representation within our board of directors. it doesn't get any higher than that. [ laughs ] >> my goodness. so why is it so important for people to appreciate all points of view? >> well, i would say this. we know that diverse teams result in greater creativity, greater innovation and impact. and so knowing that and knowing and understanding that bringing all of the diverse perspectives to the table gets you to a better outcome. and so we do a lot of design work, design thinking. we focus on growth mindsets and, ultimately, "how do we build greater inclusive leaders at our company?" and all of those things together gets you to better products. and we are seeing the results in our products now. >> how do you see that in the products? >> well, you see it in design. we have female engineers that

are creating some hot products at hp, and a lot of that comes from the mindset of a woman solving to her needs. it's very different than a man. and so it's not one or the other is better or not, it's and. and so how do we work together? and that, actually, is what we'll be focusing on around gender partnerships at the pbwc this year. >> well, i hope i get to come and sit in on your speech. >> i hope so, too. >> thank you so much for being here. >> absolutely. >> i appreciate it, and thanks to hp for all of its work on this area. >> thank you. >> all right, unfortunately, we've run out of time. for more information about our guests today, the pbwc conference, and how to contact your elected officials, just go to our website, abc7news.com/community. we're also on facebook, @abc7communityaffairs, as well as @cheryljenningsabc7. and follow me on twitter, @cherylabc7. thanks so much for joining us. have a great week. we'll see you next time.

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