FOR me, nothing is more empowering than giving a speech to a group of women. There's an immediate rapport with the audience, an unspoken bond of sisterhood, a feeling that everyone in the house knows where you're coming from. Hallelujah, sister,
tell it like it is!I like looking into the roomful of faces and finding females the ages of my daughter, my mother, myself. It's very comforting. And if they nod in agreement at some point in my presentation, it's like a booster shot of adrenaline.
Don't ask me to name my favorite wahine audience. They've all been great -- women's service clubs, professional organizations, lady number crunchers and communicators alike.
But this past Saturday afternoon, I had an especially enjoyable time at the general membership meeting of the Associated Chinese University Women at the Pagoda Hotel.
The approximately 200 women in attendance, ranging in age from recent college graduates to octogenarians, had at least three things in common. They were proud to be Chinese, were university graduates and, to my relief, were all extremely attentive.
They listened politely as I took the podium and described my job as an editorial page columnist, explaining how I write about issues that affect women:
In the home -- like how females are more often the heads of single-parent families and living in poverty than males, or how most husbands or boyfriends aren't helping around the house as much as they should, or when they do, they expect a medal.
There was a lot of nodding going on in that ACUW audience. But that didn't mean everyone was in total agreement. In fact, it got quite fractious when I took an impromptu poll on what the group thought about this whole fiasco Starr-ing Bill and Monica.
From a show of hands, one-third thought Clinton should resign or be impeached, one-third believed the president was doing a good job and should continue on, and another third was sick and tired of this entire, if you'll excuse the expression, sordid affair.
SUCH was the satisfaction of speaking to an all-female organization of thinking, feeling, opinionated women like those in the ACUW. They understood my fervor over these topics, although not everyone agreed with me. Yet they were kind enough to be encouraging as I continue on my own little journey.
Of course, every woman -- there and elsewhere -- is also on her own respective journey of life. It's always nice to be reminded, though, when some of us are going the same way.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
DianeChang@aol.com, or by fax at 523-7863.
