Representing Women and Girls in Marin County Since 1974
A picture paints a thousand words and that’s why the Marin Women’s Commission has embarked on a program to raise the profile of those individuals and organizations that highlight and encourage the success of women and girls. By showing the success of women and girls in a variety of areas from business to sports, from arts to science and everything in between, other women see and can emulate positive role models. Read more about our Recognized Role Models.
The Commission is partnering with local organizations, agencies and groups to make sure that they are specifically working to attract and present women in their activities. If they are hosting a science fair, we are asking, “How are you attracting more girls to participate in your Fair?” If they are having a workshop on housing, we are working to make sure the women in our community know about it and that topics specific to their needs are being covered. When a panel of speakers is being assembled, we are asking that women are equally represented and we assist in connecting the organization to qualified women.
Knowledge is power and for many years the Marin Women’s Commission has hosted the Teen Girl Conference. The Conference is held annually with hundreds of girls attending to learn about topics that are of specific interest to them. Each year Teen Ambassadors are selected from County schools and work with the school student bodies to develop a list of workshop topics. Ambassadors meet regularly to develop the day’s events. Working hands on with a team of Commissioners, the Ambassadors develop invaluable leadership skills. Click Here to read more….
Each year over twenty girls are selected to be Teen Ambassadors for the Teen Girl Conference and work alongside Commissioners to create and organize the Teen Girl Conference. From this group of Ambassadors a small group of teens is also selected to be presenters at the YWCA Women’s Hall of Fame Gala. In 2018, the Marin Commission named its first Teen Leader of the Year who was also honored at the YWCA Women’s Hall of Fame Gala and in a ceremony at a Marin Women’s Commission Meeting.
A picture paints a thousand words and that’s why the Marin Women’s Commission has embarked on a program to raise the profile of those individuals and organizations that highlight and encourage the success of women and girls. By showing the success of women and girls in a variety of areas from business to sports, from arts to science and everything in between, other women see and can emulate positive role models. Read more about our Recognized Role Models.
The Commission is partnering with local organizations, agencies and groups to make sure that they are specifically working to attract and present women in their activities. If they are hosting a science fair, we are asking, “How are you attracting more girls to participate in your Fair?” If they are having a workshop on housing, we are working to make sure the women in our community know about it and that topics specific to their needs are being covered. When a panel of speakers is being assembled, we are asking that women are equally represented and we assist in connecting the organization to qualified women.
Knowledge is power and for many years the Marin Women’s Commission has hosted the Teen Girl Conference. The Conference is held annually with hundreds of girls attending to learn about topics that are of specific interest to them. Each year Teen Ambassadors are selected from County schools and work with the school student bodies to develop a list of workshop topics. Ambassadors meet regularly to develop the day’s events. Working hands on with a team of Commissioners, the Ambassadors develop invaluable leadership skills. Click Here to read more….
Each year over twenty girls are selected to be Teen Ambassadors for the Teen Girl Conference and work alongside Commissioners to create and organize the Teen Girl Conference. From this group of Ambassadors a small group of teens is also selected to be presenters at the YWCA Women’s Hall of Fame Gala. In 2018, the Marin Commission named its first Teen Leader of the Year who was also honored at the YWCA Women’s Hall of Fame Gala and in a ceremony at a Marin Women’s Commission Meeting.
The Yellow Card is a list of agencies, organizations and groups specifically for the needs of women. Wallet sized version are handed out at events and in are available at many of our partner’s locations. In addition, an online and pdf version are available on our website.
We love to read and Promote Positive Role Models in Print! The Marin Women’s Commission maintains a list of books that are by women authors, are about women or have strong female lead characters. Online you can easily sort by categories such as fiction, non-fiction, history, young adult, LGBT and other categories. Copies of the Marin Women’s Recommended Reading List are available through the County’s libraries as well. Read more…
Book Title | Author | Author Gender | Fiction/Non Fiction |
|---|---|---|---|
The One Thing | Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan | M | Non-fiction |
Start With Why | Simon Sinec | M | Non-fiction |
Secret Lives of First Ladies | Cormac O'Brien | M | Non-fiction |
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History Hardcover | Vashti Harrison | M | Non-fiction |
I am Rosa Parks | Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos | M | Non-fiction |
Feminist Baby Board book | Loryn Brantz | M | Non-fiction |
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World | Matthew Goodman | M | Non-fiction |
Catherine the Great | Robert Massie | M | Non-fiction |
Africa: Unplugged | Robyn Keene-Young | M | Non-fiction |
Yes Please | Amy Poehler | F | Non-fiction |
Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World | Rachel Ignotofsky | F | Non-fiction |
Why Not Me? | Mindy Kaling | F | Non-fiction |
When Everything Changed | Gail Collins | F | Non-fiction |
West with the Night | Beryl Markham | F | Non-fiction |
We Should All Be Feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | F | Non-fiction |
Tulip Fever | Deborah Moggach | F | Fiction |
To Kill A Mockingbird | Harper Lee | F | Fiction |
The Shadow King: The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut's Mummy | Jo Marchant | F | Non-fiction |
The Poisonwood Bible | Barbara Kingsolver | F | Fiction |
The Miseducation of Cameron Post | Emily M. Danforth | F | Fiction |
The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B | Sandra Gulland | F | Fiction |
The Making of Markova: Diaghilev's Baby Ballerine to Groundbreaking Icon | Tina Sutton | F | Non-fiction |
The Last Great Dance on Earth | Sandra Gulland | F | Fiction |
The Lady and the Unicorn | Tracy Chevalier | F | Fiction |
The Joy Luck Club | Amy Tan | F | Fiction |
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | Rebecca Skloot | F | Non-fiction |
The Creative Habit | Twyla Tharp | F | Non-fiction |
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women | Naomi Wolf | F | Non-fiction |
The Art of Tough | Barbara Boxer | F | Non-fiction |
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln | Doris Kearns Goodwin | F | Non-fiction |
Tatiana and Alexander | Paulina Simons | F | Fiction |
Tales of Passion Tales of Woe | Sandra Gulland | F | Fiction |
She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World | Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger | F | Non-fiction |
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of R.B.G. vs. Inequality | Jonah Winter and Stacy Innerst | F | Non-fiction |
Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem | Gloria Steinem | F | Non-fiction |
Reading Lolita in Tehran | Azar Nafisi | F | Non-fiction |
Radium Girls | Kate Moore | F | Non-fiction |
Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! | Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl | F | Non-fiction |
Princesses Wear Pants | Savannah Guthrie | F | Fiction |
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood | Marjane Satrapi | F | Non-fiction |
Out of Africa | Isak Dinesen | F | Non-fiction |
On Beauty | Zadie Smith | F | Fiction |
Notorious RGB | Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik | F | Non-fiction |
My Life on the Road | Gloria Steinem | F | Non-fiction |
My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams | Abigail Adams | F | Non-fiction |
My Beloved World | Sonia Sotomayer | F | Non-fiction |
Men Explain Things to Me | Rebecca Solnit | F | Non-fiction |
Malala's Magic Pencil | Malala Yousafzai | F | Fiction |
Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria | Noo Saro-Wiwa | F | Non-fiction |
Likewise: The High School Comic Chronicles | Ariel Schrag | F | Non-fiction |
Interview with the Vampire | Anne Rice | F | Fiction |
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark | Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley | F | Non-fiction |
House of Spirits | Isabelle Allende | F | Non-fiction |
Herstory: Women Who Changed the World | Deborah Ohrn and Gloria Steinem | F | Non-fiction |
Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World | Richard Rhodes | F | Non-fiction |
Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women | Catherine Thimmesh and Melissa Sweet | F | Non-fiction |
Girl with a Pearl Earring | Tracy Chevalier | F | Fiction |
Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love | Dava Sobel | F | Non-fiction |
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe | Fannie Flagg | F | Fiction |
Frankenstein | Mary Shelley | F | Fiction |
Founding Mothers | Cokie Roberts | F | Non-fiction |
Eleanor and Hick | Susan Quinn | F | Non-fiction |
Desert Queen | Janet Wallach | F | Non-fiction |
Cleopatra | Stacy Schiff | F | Non-fiction |
Bossypants | Tina Fey | F | Non-fiction |
Bad Feminist: Essays | Roxane Gay | F | Non-fiction |
Are You My Mother? | Alison Bechdel | F | Non-fiction |
A Town Like Alice | Nevil Shute | F | Fiction |
A Daughter of the Samurai | Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto | F | Non-fiction |
Often the greatest impact can be achieved through legislative changes. The Marin Women’s Commission has worked to eliminate inequities in state and local laws and practices. The Commission provides leadership through research, education, collaboration and advocates for legislation that directly affects women and girls. The Commission has been instrumental in advancing local legislation supporting efforts to curtail human trafficking, administer the Consent Decree and provide additional resources for women and girls affected by domestic violence. Recently, the Commission has supported legislation that ensures equal pay for women, has advocated for the United Nations Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in California and worked to increase pre-kindergarten educational offerings for children in Marin County.
From time to time, certain issues are brought to the attention of the Marin Women’s Commission that require attention. In 2017, the process around transporting victims of sexual assault for SART exams was brought to the Commission. The Commission is currently in the process of gathering information and an understanding of the past and present processes.
In 2013/14 the Commission embarked on a study of human trafficking in Marin County and delivered a report and recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. The Report put a new spotlight on Human Trafficking in the County and resulted in a number of steps being taken by various agencies and non-profits to address the issue.
The work done today by the current Commission is informed by and is a continuation of past efforts. Since 1974, the Marin Women’s Commission has been working on behalf of all women in Marin. Read about past work here.
Representing Women and Girls in Marin County Since 1974.
Copyright 2024 Marin Women's Commission, all rights reserved.
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Representing Women and Girls in Marin County Since 1974. Copyright 2024 Marin Women's Commission, all rights reserved.
Click here to view our Privacy Policy.