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Kathy
Watson Stu
Watson
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Opening comments May 8, 1996, for a woman's conference in Eugene, Oregon, before 800 attendees.
Women on the Move Conference
Several weeks ago, quite by accident, I got an object lesson that defined for me the word "entrepreneur". Entrepreneur is a hot word in business circles. There's even a big entrepreneurial conference every year in Portland, and a center for entrepreneurship at the UO School of Business here in Eugene. But ask for a definition. What sets an entrepreneur apart from any other person in business? My object lesson occurred in Los Angeles. My husband and I were taking a walk on the pier at Santa Monica beach. The pier was crowded with tourists on this warm spring Saturday, but also by numerous large vans and TV satellite trucks. It seems that the Olympic Torch would be coming by that way later in the day. We walked on, and we came across a knot of about 50 people standing around several Georgia State Patrolmen, and one very oily looking fellow in a suit who was handing out business cards. It was a curious scene, and though we couldn't hear what the man was saying, we certainly wondered what was happening. So did a lot of others around us. As we came around the edge of the group, I met my entrepreneur. She was a bag lady, a little worse for wear, and she had left shoe in her hand. She was hopping along on her right foot, holding out the shoe, and she was saying, "For a quarter, I'll tell you what's going on in there!" That's an entrepreneur. She took a look at the situation in front of her, she took stock of her resources, she concocted a plan on the fly, and she acted. Today, the speed at which the world moves demands just that kind of spirit. During the conference today, I hope you will be inspired by the opportunities in front of you for personal growth and creativity. That you will take stock of your own resources and find that they are abundant indeed. From that assessment, I believe planning your future can become an exciting task. Acting it out can be even more fulfilling. Opportunities are boundless for women today in Oregon. I remember as a young girl hearing my elders say, "Let me tell you what it was like when I was young." The tales they told seemed a world apart from the present day's reality. So it seems humorous to me, at my young age, to say the same thing. Things sure have changed since I was a girl -- or to be more exact, a young professional woman. One of my earliest experiences as a professional, or at least a professional in training, occurred right here in Eugene. It was 1976, and I was interested in politics, so I volunteered to work on a Congressional campaign. The candidate asked me to attend the local Lions Club lunch with him. In the 70's, the lions still roared -- literally roared -- as part of their festivities. When it came time to salute the flag and sing Gold Bless America, the Lions asked that since I was the only female in the room, if I wouldn't mind just hoping up on the table and holding the flag up for the salute. I was 20 years old, and far too shy and naive to say "no." Then they roared. This is the closest I've ever come to table dancing. I can hardly imagine the Lions roaring today, and I think they'd fall over in a heap before they'd ask a woman guest to stand on a table and lead the flag salute. But some things, surprisingly, have not changed. Shortly after I arrived at Oregon Business magazine, I was invited to Salem along with other senior editors around the state to meet with (then) Governor (Barbara) Roberts in a sort of editorial board meeting on her turf. When I arrived at the Governor's conference room, and walked in the door, I stopped short. Her large conference room table was surrounded by 20 of the state's leading editors. They were all male, they were all Caucasian, they were all age 40 to 50. Outside of the governor, I was the only woman in the room. They all turned around to stare at me, and then we laughed. We all knew what the laughter was about. They looked pretty funny in their solidarity around the table, and even they got a kick out of it. Today, these editors continue to editorialize in favor of government and business advancing women into top management positions. Yet in their own organizations, only two newspapers in Oregon employ a woman as the top editor. Perhaps as never before, the women coming up behind us will see an end to that kind of lock-out. My own daughters, ages 13 and 16, seem to carry around in their genes no particular passion for what have traditionally been female jobs, except of course, for motherhood. When you ask them about the future, they believe they will make a contribution at whatever they choose to do. Each of them has already sought out scholarship, athletics and music in areas often thought of as male territory. My 13-year-old told me just the other day that she had located a web site that previewed the professions in the future that will be most in demand and that will make the greatest impact on the world. She's decided to pick her career from that list. That's entrepreneurism; that's womanhood in the year 2000. My best to you all as you explore being a woman on the move.
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