Mayor Elizabeth Patterson will be one of three panelists at the Benicia-Vallejo branch of the American Association of University Women’s presentation on women in leadership. Patterson will analyze the role of women and leadership in the political arena. (File photo)

The Benicia-Vallejo branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) will be joining forces with the League of Women Voters Benicia and California State University Maritime Academy to host a panel titled “Women and Leadership— Opportunities and Obstacles, Featuring Three Local Leaders” on Wednesday, Feb. 22. Interested individuals are encouraged to sign up for the event at eventbrite.com/e/women-and-leadership-opportunities-and-obstacles-panel-solano-county-tickets-31038681532.

The panel will discuss the role of women in leadership, the obstacles they overcome to reach those positions and how others can help. Coming almost a year after Hillary Clinton became the first female presidential nominee on a major party ticket and just a few weeks after the worldwide Women’s Marches drew millions of participants, the issues discussed in the panel and the preceding short video remain topical.

“The AAUW and LWV Benicia have a long history of working for equity in education promoting women,” Suzanne Antone, the program chair of Benicia-Vallejo AAUW, said. “Women in leadership is always a timely topic, given the current events.”

The program will begin with a five-minute video titled “Barriers and Bias: The Status of Women in Leadership,” which addresses a March 2016 report by the national AAUW and Harvard University regarding the representation of women in management positions. The study notes that women make up less than 5 percent of Fortune 500 companies, 18 percent of women serve as CEOs of the largest nonprofits, women of color are less likely to serve on nonprofit boards and only six of the 50 U.S. governors were women— a number that has since decreased to four.

“Mostly, we’re talking about some of the structural changes,” Antone said. “For example, making sure that we pass legislation that would regulate equal pay for equal work.”

Other areas Antone hopes the program will address include policies that balance work and families and the individual opportunity for people to recognize their own implicit biases.

After the video, the program will then present a panel of local women representing the arenas of politics, the corporate and small-business world and nonprofits. One of the panelists will be Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, who was re-elected to her third term last November. According to Antone, Patterson will be discussing “her personal path to leadership, how she developed and decided to enter politics” and sharing her current status as well as what others can do to get involved in the role of female leadership.

Other panelists will include Maria Guevara— the director of the nonprofit Vallejo Together which addresses social justice issues—, and Deborah Raymond, the chief operating officer of the Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center. The panel will be moderated by Belinda Smith, a former assistant to former Solano County Supervisor Linda Seifert.

“They’ll be sharing resources and tips so that people who attend the program can be inspired to pursue leadership themselves or support women pursuing leadership,” Antone said.

Antone hopes the program can inspire collective action throughout Solano County and beyond.

“We want people to be motivated, to use their leadership as individuals to make effective decisions that are equitable and consider all groups and make sure we have a positive outcome,” she said. “The more people you have involved in the decision making, the better the decisions made.”

“Women and Leadership” will be held at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 22 in the Rizza Auditorium at Cal Maritime, located at 200 Maritime Academy Drive in Vallejo. The program is free, and tickets can be obtained by visiting eventbrite.com/e/women-and-leadership-opportunities-and-obstacles-panel-solano-county-tickets-31038681532. For more information regarding the program or memberships with AAUW or LWV Benicia, contact Antone at 748-7832.

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