welcome to the w challenge. we will be here to celebrate women's equality day today. so, are you ready to celebrate! awesome energy and the sun is bright today. so now i will talk to my m.c. for today and also one of the cofounders of "the w challenge." san francisco administrate carmen choo. >> hello, the sun is shining in san francisco. happy women's equality day. for folks who may not know, in 1971, women's equality was established by congress in order to commemorate the passage of the 19th amendment

which really provided for the beginning of the women's ability to vote. now, last year, we celebrated the 100-year anniversary of this time period, however, it was covid-19. there were many changes in our life. how we did work. how we interacted with each other. but, what we did see during the pandemic was an incredibly difficult time. it was a difficult time for many of our workers and many of our most vulnerable, our seniors and we also saw that it was a time which really exposed and laid bear some of the inequities that we face as women. women we saw had greater levels of unemployment during this covid-19 time. greater economic instability, and often being many times the primary care gives of also

having to make some of the most difficult trade off decisions or going out to work. it was especially during this time we see how important it is to not only make sure we recognize women's equality day, but also to continue to support efforts like this "the w challenge" that really seeks to uplift the voices of women. we know that when women vote, when women participate, things can change. [ applause ] >> so today, we have come together in a call to action. many people may not know, september 14th is an election our challenge to all of you is

to go out and vote. that deciding the future of your city, your community let's make sure we also get the people around us to get up, to step up and vote. today, we have a number of speakers who are here, who are just amazing leaders in their own right. i'm going to be recognizing a number of people that have joined us today. one of the most amazing leaders we've gotten today is our very own speaker, nancy pelosi. she needs -- she truly needs no introduction, but if you indulge me. i remember when she first became speaker, we saw the newspaper articles and it said "madam speaker" plastered on top of it and i can remember thinking wow, things are going to change. we have a woman who is really showing the way. making it normal for women to

be in power and to have a say and have a seat at the table. so without further adieu, nancy pelosi. >> thank you so very much car men. when it was new. i see carmen in this w challenge rise up in the ranks from one position to another. thank you for devour great leadership as well. it's an honor to be here with you and the mayor and malia. >> president cohen: and representative stephanie. it's great to be here with you. i just have some special guests with me today, of course, my daughter christine who has on

her purple and white which she always wears and i have on the i'm honored their here to get a taste of san francisco and how enthusiastic we are about women 101 years ago after fighting, being starved, women won the right to vote. the newspapers at the time said women given the right to vote, that could not have been further from the truth. it was a big fight and it was historic and transformative. here we are 101 years later, women in positions of high responsibility, but an attack on the right to vote that's happening in our country. a few days ago, on tuesday, in the house of representatives under the leadership of teri sul, a woman from selma,

alabama, we passed the john lewis voting rights enhancement act. [ applause ] to offset the damage that the courts are doing to the right to vote. and in doing so, we also need the senate to pass it and to pass h.r.1 to overturn the voter suppression laws that have been enacted around the country. so we have important work to do. we have important work to do. and, as carmen said, we have an election coming up in california in just a couple of weeks and we must all vote in that election. how exciting was it to be up there with nancy pelosi speaker of the house and now the vice president of the united states

kamala harris standing behind joe biden when he made his speech, when he made his joint his messages message to a joint session of congress. that's for sure. but was really important was a speech he made. it wasn't about women standing behind him, it was about what women were doing going forward and he made a speech where women have made the difference in supporting a build back better for women. we have child care. child tax credit. paid family and medical leave. child tax credit. the list goes on of what he has put into his agenda which is the biden agenda for women.

and this is where women make a difference. we wouldn't have such an aggressive agenda and some of the other initiatives. we have expanded benefits for medicare. expanded subsidies for affordable care act. we will have more this is all about empowering women so that their families are cared for so we can have women in the work place making the difference who

came to the state of the union address of president obama. she said -- he said to her, everyone is standing on your shoulders and she said "get off my shoulders and do your own work." and that is what we're doing here. people always ask me what is in the water in san francisco that you have so many women leaders representing this area. well, what it is is our shared values, our commitment to diversity and i always say our diversity is our strength. our unity is our power. the unity of women make change, transform our country. when women succeed, america succeeds. thank you all very much. i yield back with carmen choo. >> thank you, speaker. our next speaker is our very own mayor london breed. i think when we talk about what it means to make a difference

as a woman leader, you can see it in our pandemic response. san francisco was one of the first cities to come out and to come and act decisively and follow the science when it came to covid-19. hundreds of lives were saved. that is a difference. i want to thank mayor breed for her leadership and just imagine if we had more leaders like this across the country. thank you. >> well, hopefully, we'll get to a point where we don't have to wear these masks, but in the meantime, are we fired up, ladies! because we know the fight is not over and let me tell you, it is such an honor to be here with our speaker nancy pelosi. i don't know about you, but i don't know a woman who is

tougher, more fierce than nancy pelosi. and you all remember that day when she walked out of the former president office threw her coat up and threw her shades on. she was like i'm outy. that's speaker nancy pelosi. she is fierce. she is a woman of courage and she still makes time to not only deliver for the people of san francisco, but also to show up for the people of san francisco. to show up for her community. and you know why because she's a woman and we know how to multi-task. we'll cook you dinner, do the laundry, save the country all at the same time. she had like five kids while she was running for office, a baby on her hip while she was asking for your vote.

that's our speaker and that's women in general. it's what we do. it's why women make such great leaders and as we celebrated the fight that madam speaker talked about to ensure that women have a seat at the table, that we are able to vote and make our own decisions, today is a chance to recommit ourselves to what has happened in the past. today, we show up with our ballots so that our voices are heard so that regardless of who is in office, they know that they are accountable to women and what we care about. we know that there continues to be work around policies and investments. but, we want to make sure that we remember this day to recommit ourselves to the fight that we know still continues for equal pay. the fight that still continues. so that we can have lack tate

stations for women in the work place. so that women are appointed to boards and commissions. so that we're in industries. so that women are in industries that typically, they are not. today, i did a ground breaking. 200 new affordable housing units in san francisco and i'm so proud of my friend lori dunn who is leading in the construction industry. she was leading and championing this project in an industry predominantly by men. and part of our diversity is ensuring that women are on boards and commissions. we have had a set back on the board of supervisors, supervisor stefani, but we also know with those men, we have to make sure they are held accountable for the things that supervisor stefani continues to push forward. we are grateful to our city

administrate carmen choo for her continued work to bring this challenge to the forefront. and, we want to continue to recommit ourselves and to remind people today is a day for uplifting and celebration. yes, challenges continue to persist. work continues to get done and before i just noticed an extraordinary woman and a few other women i want to take an opportunity to acknowledge. we talk about my leadership on covid, but my leadership had everything to do with having a strong team of women leaders in this city who helped pave the way to make the hard decisions to help save lives and one of those women is standing to my right. mary ellen carol who is the department head of emergency management as well as our fire chief who's behind me janine nicholson. a number of doctors including

dr. susan philip and so many other extraordinary women who continue to lead this city, who continue to keep us safe. today is a celebrate. today is a reminder of work that needs to be done and today as you hear for some other inspirational women, madam speaker, we are going to continue to make sure that we rededicate ourselves to getting out the vote. to getting women elected. to holding politicians and others accountable to do what is best to make sure we are serving the people. you have been an extraordinary example of that. we honor you, we thank you and we that all the men who are here today chief and others who continue to uplift and support women in all the work that they do. thank you all so much for coming. have a wonderful celebration. [ applause ] . >> i want to take time to recognize a few folks who have joined us here.

joaquin torres our assess or. our treasurer. former supervisor norman yee. of course, kathryn stefani. but we have a number of departments but also i want to bring in maleah cohen. the first black woman to serve. >> good afternoon everyone. good afternoon ladies and good afternoon to the fellas who love the ladies. love the ladies and support the ladies. we are here to celebrate and we must lift our voices and say, despite the ravages of the pandemic and despite all of what the country has gone

through, we still stand here strong, united, and undivided. nothing can stop us and we will prevail. why? because elections have consequences. is that right, madam speaker. we will prevail because we know that through all of our votes, we can change the world. we've seen it done before and we will do it again. through our votes, we elected an administration, a speaker, and a congress that enacted the largest ever federal tax credit for working families. let's give a round of applause for that. that's huge when i think about speaker pelosi. i think of the member of the press and speaker pelosi said what deal? dead pan. dead serious. i love that. but through our votes, we have fought and we have won $1.9 trillion in covid relief to bring vaccines to all of our

communities of color, to fund safely re-opening our schools and here in california, our voices and our votes have led the state budget to do incredible things. it's provided increased funds for health care, invested in early childhood education most importantly it has reduced poverty of 5.3% to grants for families. for families, women, and our children, these victories matter. who knows, perhaps next year, we will be standing where you are standing and the men will be celebrating themselves all by themselves. celebrating and saying how wonderful these women are and how their lives are so enhanced when a woman is in charge and a woman is running things. i don't know. i'm speaking it into existence. but these things matter because fighting for decent humane policies is key to making womens' lives better and the only way we will continue to

make progress is by voting. so ladies and gentlemen, i hope you will join me in making sure that you cast your vote today, tomorrow, or just before september 14th, hold up your ballot if you have it. come on. hold up your ballot if you have it. we're going to march and turn in these ballots today. thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you to all of the women leaders who are standing up here with me. thank you. [ applause ] >> i think malia just issued the next w challenge. next is catherine stefani. focus on making sure that we stop domestic violence. and she is no more dedicated -- there's no dedicated person who is more entrenched in this issue and more dedicated to

pushing this than supervisor stefani. so i want to thank her for all of her work and invite her to speak. >> thank you so much, carmen. it is truly an honor and a privilege to be here with these incredible women. speaker pelosi, mayor breed, member cohen, i am just in awe of all of you and thank you again to carmen for bringing us all together today to celebrate women's equality day. you know, i really thought about what i wanted to say today and in light of the fapgt that i have a 12-year-old daughter, i have a lot to say. my daughter stands in my closet, puts on a blazer and says, mom, when i'm a lawyer i'm going to do this. and i think about her future and i think how we have to protect our future with climate change, with gun violence prevention, with reproduct irights, there's so much we have to do to preserve the future of my daughter and the daughters and sons of all of us. we know why we have women's equality day. we're celebrating our right to vote and we know that not

everyone got the right to vote. in 1920. it wasn't until 1965 that black women also received the right to vote. and as speaker pelosi said, we weren't given the right to vote. we had to fight so hard for it and we cannot forget what the women before us had to do to earn this right, to fight for this right. we come together today to honor that and we not only come together today to honor those women who went before us but to shine a light on the inequality that we suffer today. that inequality shows up in our everyday lives. we know particularly women of color still do not get the bay pay we deserve. we are not equal to men when getting paid. and paying women equally could cut poverty rates in half and bring millions of women and children out of poverty. we work for less and do twice the amount. it's as if someone makes dinner

and they get an extra credit button. but i didn't say that out loud. women accounted for 100% of lost jobs in december 2020 while men had a net gain in employment. we know that domestic violence has skyrocketed in the pandemic. and i'm also surprised to her locally with domestic violence, prosecutions are not what they should be and attitudes that victims need to agree to prosecution before we do anything is absolutely wrong. it's 1950s thinking. in 2018, the united states was named the 10th most dangerous country in the world for women and that's because of domestic violence and because of our gun violence epidemic and who do you think is on the front lines of fighting both those issues? women. so how do we honor the fore mothers and all others who have

paved the way. this is what's keeping me up at night. we do not pave a way and create a pathway for california's leading massaganist. i am going to say some of the things he says. we must stand together and vote no on this recall. too much is at steak. we cannot afford to believe complacent. women, you just cannot afford to be complacent right now. the leading candidate to replace the governor who everyone's talking about does not care about women and does not care about the issues. you know what he says about women and i quote, "women know less than men about political issues, economics and current events. good news for democrats, bad news for republicans. for the less one knows, the easier the manipulation." well i'll tell you, i'll take him on any day. he also says glass ceiling. what glass ceiling.

women, women exaggerate the problem of sexism. he compared women on welfare to cats. for the political gain of feminists. in january, 2017, he tweeted that women taking part in the women's march were too unattractive to be sexually assaulted and he also mocked women attending the march as obese. well, i'll tell you what, i was there and i did not see unattractive women. what i saw was a million women fed up with the status quo. fed up with the continued inequality. fed up with the fact that our reproductive rights are threatened. fed up with the fact that we can't get common sense gun violence prevention passed at the federal level and we cannot afford to sit this recall out. you must vote no. we need to harness that energy that i saw in 2017 and show up to the ballot. we must. our childrens' lives are at steak here. so, please, join me in voting

no on this recall. drop that ballot in the mail. show up on election day, september 14th and, please, encourage everyone you know to do the same. we cannot afford to be complacent and hand the state over to people who don't care about our issues. thank you. [ applause ] >> please join me in another round of applause for supervisor stefani. [ applause ] >> thank you so much. just a few more folks to just recognize here. we have chief bill scott. michael lambert, our city librarian. our board m.t.a. board of directors sharon lye. linda sue. rafael. we've got a ton of women leaders here i just wanted to recognize. maggie wheeland. and virginia don hue.

thank you so much for being here with us today. [ applause ] now, it's getting hot so please bear with me two mr. speakers and you're going to see it's worthwhile. two speakers. the first one is going to be kimberly ellis. she has started with the city not long ago as leading the helm on the department of status and women. she's no stranger to the women's empowerment. kimberly. [ applause ] >> each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women those, of course, were the words of the incomparable maya angelo. the women here today stand up for ourselves, for each other and for all the women who will

come after us. good afternoon everyone. i'm kimberly ellis. i'm the director for the department of the status on women. our mission is to promote the equitable treatment of women and girls and nonbinary people with a particular focus on populations in need. today the work of d.o.s.w. is focused in three core service areas to catalize. those areas are health and safety and civic engagement and political empowerment. through these three areas, the department aims to improve the whole lives of our target communities including the

health, wealth, physical safety and well being. our programming is designed to not just create balance when it comes to the construct of gender but also to empower women, girls and nongender people to build pathways to healthy and prosperous extending the right to vote for women across the country. women's equality day is a day to celebrate that moment which was the result of the tireless effort and leadership of a multi-generational, multi-racial movement including black, indigenous, asian, and latina women who fought, marched, organized, and protested for decades to gain the right to vote. only to be blocked from the voting booths and later written

out of history. and, unfortunately, that is the story all too often that women and women of color primarily are counted out. efforts erased and our voices silenced. whether it's through the literacy test, poll taxes, or the violent intimidation of the past or the closing of polling places. the purging of voter roles or the attacks on vote by mail today. the fight for the right to vote continues. this occasion is not only a day to celebrate, but also a moment to double down on our commitment to continue the struggle so that our democracy is not just representative, but reflective. as we visualize and manifest a more just and equal society for all. over the last century, women have fought to gain access to the classroom, to the board

room and to the decision making tables where our lives and livelihoods are determined. with each advancement we have seen and felt, the impact that comes when women actively participate in determining our own futures. we know that diverse voices, perspectives, and lived experiences bring forth new issues, new ideas, and nuanced and sustainable solutions to the halls of power. we cannot and will not sit out and let others define what's important to us, our families, and our communities. as we witnessed in the past several elections, women are the margin of victory. and to reiterate what our speaker of the house nancy pelosi always reminds us of, when women succeed, we all succeed. and, when women vote, we all

win. in honor of our fore mothers and sisters in the struggle, i join my colleagues and fellow women leaders here to urge you to make your voices heard and cast your ballot today and no later than september 14th in the up coming special election. happy women's equality day to all. thank you and good afternoon. >> all right. ladies. are you ready for your last speaker? >> yes we are. >> all right. it's hot because voting's hot, everyone allison go who is the s.f. president of the league of women voters. [ applause ] >> hi everybody. thank you for having me on this very warm, sunny, san francisco day. so today's really special to me. women's equality day both as a young women and immigrant and

for those who can't see me. i'm very excited to be standing here and sharing this podium with so many of my heroens. what a great group of speakers we have today. thank you to everybody who has helped plan this today especially my legal of women voters volunteers who have helped out with this. anyway. my name is go. we are nonpartisan focused on voter education and advocacy here in san francisco for over 100 years. our league is older than the national league and we're proud of that. this current election is unlike most elections and with unprecedented challenges. this election is different than most. one, election day is

september fourteenth. two, it's nice and simple. there's nothing to worry about. and, three, since we are in the middle of a global pandemic, the state of california has continued to lead on voter accessibility and has mailed every registered voter a mail-in bawl if you haven't received it or need to update your registration, contact the board of elections. we have a lot of f.a.q.s and information about where you can return your ballot on our website at lwffv.org/vote. we are also working really hard on redistricting. many folks hear about federal redistricting, but did you know that you too can get involved in the process right here in san francisco. redistricting will change our board of supervisors district lines and affect our daily

life. we have resources and information on our website again lwvsf.org/redistricting including a recording of our recent webinars and defining your communities of interest. we only get this chance to redraw our voting lines once in a decade. now the census data is out and we're off to engage with our local government. so you should get involved either with us or on your own and the redistricting task force needs to have the final set of district maps done by april 2022. so now is the time to make your voice heard and we need your voice so that our voting maps are fair and equitable. we have 9 san franciscans who have been pointed to your local redistricting task force. you want to get to know them, we have their bios on our

website if you've ever walked down a san francisco street and thought about how one side is in one district and the other side of the street is a completely different neighborhood or if a neighborhood you think looks, feels and if you caught the san francisco chronicle article last week. one of the supervisors took the time to walk all 50 miles of district lines. it's a really great article and i highly recommend you check it out. so, just to wrap it up. friendly reminder, turn in your recall ballot by september 14th and then get involved with local redistricting. thank you for having me. thank you for all of speakers. happy women's equality day. [ applause ]

>> thank you for getting out here, allison. i do want to recognize supervisor safai who has joined us as well. let's get on the steps and take a quick group photo. thank you. shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of san

francisco. by supporting local services within our neighborhoods, we help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> my name is ray behr. i am the owner of chief plus. it's a destination specialty foods store, and it's also a corner grocery store, as well. we call it cheese plus because there's a lot of additions in addition to cheese here. from fresh flowers, to wine, past a, chocolate, our dining area and espresso bar. you can have a casual meeting if you want to. it's a real community gathering place. what makes little polk unique, i think, first of all, it's a great pedestrian street. there's people out and about all day, meeting this neighbor and coming out and supporting the

businesses. the businesses here are almost all exclusively independent owned small businesses. it harkens back to supporting local. polk street doesn't look like anywhere u.s.a. it has its own businesses and personality. we have clothing stores to gallerys, to personal service stores, where you can get your hsus repaired, luggage repaired. there's a music studio across the street. it's raily a diverse and unique offering on this really great street. i think san franciscans should shop local as much as they can because they can discover things that they may not be familiar with. again, the marketplace is changing, and, you know, you look at a screen, and you click a mouse, and you order something, and it shows up, but to have a tangible experience, to be able to come in to taste things, to see things, to smell

things, all those things, it's very important that you do so.

yesterday was my birthday and i was out a little later than normal. it was nice to really celebrate a birthday for a change and i celebrated in ashia sf in san francisco where -- oh, my goodness, the performance was amazing. the food was great. the drinks were wonderful, the people were wonderful, but what i most enjoyed about being at asia sf is that they require everyone who comes through the door shows proof of vaccination.