we have probably the highest number of women commissioners ever in the history of the city today. isn't that wonderful? [applause] we have clearly a good and growing balance of women, on the board of supervisors, commissioners, and department heads as well. i'm extremely proud to be heading up this very complicated city. [laughter] one that does not let me sleep very much, but certainly it -- i have said this in many cases, just literally these eight weeks i have fallen in love with this city even deeper because it is such a wonderful place to be. every community i visit, every corridor that we walk together, it fascinates me house on many other people who live and work here -- but even those who don't -- just love this city and they do what they can to make sure that it is running well. it is very natural that as i am thrust with the responsibility of being mayor, that i look for talent, and i think a lot of the talent is with the women of san francisco. [applause] it has been my pleasure, of course, to have been an employee of this wonderful government some 22 years now. but to take you back, i had the pleasure of serving another mayor some years ago, one who taught me a lot of things. one of the things that i recall back in the late 1990's, the early 2000 tossed it was when i was the director of public works. there was this report that came out not to recently thereafter called the seadoll report, which was being not taken very seriously on the status of women. one of the things that it had not been able to do was penetrate departments of the city, key departments that had been probably male dominated for many years. would you think that dpw fit that description? it is certainly did, and this report was handed to me through the mayor's office. of course, the mayor then was willie brown, and he said, what are you going to do with this? and of course the first thing you do if you read it, and you read it with the understanding that there is probably a lot of information there that will be very hard and goals and programs that will be very hard to implement at the department of public works, which had historically been a very male- dominated agency. but we made a commitment to the mayor, we made a commitment to the commission that we would study that report and to implement every single one of those as that applied at every level of the department. i was willing to do that because around in may were a lot of other powerful women, who said it would not be that hard. all you had to do is pay attention to it, and all you had to do was not take no for an answer and all you had to do was look forward, not backward. and with those varied little pieces of advice, which took on that task and we found at the local managers. we found that many women who were trying to even get to the blue-collar work, the work on the streets, had to be treated more equally, had to have processes that were more fair. as we went up the ladder, we found it easier because we simply paid attention. in a very short time, i was able to report back to the mayor that this program of employment the principles and making sure that that happened in the very blue- collar department of public works was going on at a very good pace. i was able to quickly identify midlevel managers who were women, identified engineers, accountants, financial people who were all there for many years, this was not invited to become part of management in an open way. and those are very easy to find once you concentrated on it. i am here to say to you that a lot of our successes today reflect efforts that i don't think we're too difficult to make once you focused on it. a lot of that had to do with the enthusiasm that this city has brought to making those goals real, and a lot of that came from the very women's summits that were established. the women's summits, the one that i remember because i did not get a ticket to because it was so crowded it was the one that mayor brunn had introduced to our city. that was a wonderful time. i knew there was going to be a lot of things coming out of that summit because it was the hottest ticket in the city. those of you who are around, you were fighting for those tickets, and i just gave up. i said tommy what i have to do. as we look back at the videotapes, as we look at the press events that followed, we were blessed with a lot of great insights, the encouragement of women from international stature coming from all over the world, attending the summit. that makes it easy for me to say that the things i am doing now and the things i have done are credited to the press assessor's -- are credited to the predecessors who came before. it is great for me to introduce someone who has earned this title, dear to me and all of san francisco, this year's man of the year award, will the brown jr. -- willie brown jr. [applause] >> mr. mayor, thank you very much. i am just delighted that you were in position to be able to present this to me, and i will work and see if i can win it next year, and i will ask you to stick around. and present it to me next year in your capacity as mayor of san francisco. mayor lee, you have to note that the women of san francisco that you gave an opportunity to in your capacity as head of the department of public works and your capacity as the chief administrative officer for this city, even to this day, persons that you designated to replace you, you have allocated women to positions of importance and side of the mayor's office. i saw them out there, one of your deputies. i don't think they call them deputies any more. every mayor has his impression of what happens in this city, but i am delighted. i am excited working with many of you here on the women's summit, when we did those over at the bus going. -- at the bosconi. when i think of all the other women who headed the maersk summit, i hope that mayor lee will find a way to do what i think will distinguish the city in more ways than one. we clearly became the first city to champion what was supposed to being the process being led by the un. we were the first city to that with reference to women. [applause] i don't think there is any of the municipality anywhere in this country that ever matched what we did it in terms of trying to inspire women to become full participants in the pursuit of justice and equality. i am just delighted to present this award. all of you who have been responsible, i am delighted that it will go on my wall. my daughter susan -- somebody thinks i am the man of the year. [applause] >> we have one more quick presentation. before we do, a couple of people mentioned the past women's summit. a lot of women lead that an audience. there are others. if we could just ask you to stand up, because we want to recognize you for the work you did and the history you created. thank you. [applause] >> and we have something else for mayor brown. i'm really happy to present him one of our awards today. for all those years he has been working on the death star. he has done all of the things to support us, and we especially want to give him this award for being the first state legislator in the country to fund family planning for low-income women. in the 1970's, i don't remember the exact year, when he was on the national board of planned parenthood, we want to give him a weapon today to help us as the fundamentalists try to take those rights away from us. [laughter] [applause] >> metaphors be with you -- may the force be with you and with us. >> a jedi warrior. now you know what was behind that masked darth vader was wearing. me. [laughter] >> at this time, i want to acknowledge a couple people outside of our committee members, white family. it is an incredible group of women who backed me up. they were there, a roomful of women who were helpful. i was able to call on people like jackie and get feedback. it is so important when we do something like this that we count on one another. when you look around the room, i want to thank you for being part of this. everyone in this room, thank you as well. at this time i want to start our program and bring out rose, who is with kawl radio, and she is our mistress of ceremonies today. [applause] >> it is great to see a full house. i was just doing a google search on international women's day, and the photos are incredible. it does not get that much mainstream coverage, but there are actions taking place all over the country. unfortunately, there has been violence on the ivory coast, three women killed, virus in cairo. they called for in million woman marched in cairo because the women who were instrumental in the uprising want to make sure that they're part of this going forward, and a number of men showed up and said, we don't like this. definitely look that up. there are actions happening around a thousand from places around the world. i would like to introduce our next speaker. she is an award winning writer and director, and her film won a number of awards, debuted at the cannes film festival. it launched on september 28 and 170 areas across the country. congress is pushing the international violence against women act, and she blocks frequently on a number of issues. she was recently honored as one of silicon valley's most influential women. it is she in the room? she just went out. the ok, this happens on my radio show. we go live at 10:00, and sometimes the guests don't show up. before ever want arrived, i was talking about this new group called u.s. uncut. how many of you have heard of them? this is a group that just launched in the u.s. the point of the group is to expose corporations that don't pay taxes. we're constantly told we don't have any money, there is no money for child care or poor children or blind people, but the fact is a number of corporations, almost two-thirds, don't pay taxes. a lot of people asked about it during the break. they will have a major action on tax day, and just for the people who arrived, they shut down bank of america yesterday in washington, d.c., because the bank of america does not pay taxes. you will pay more taxes than bank of america. look that up, u.s.uncut.org. >> i am sorry, i missed my cue. i have three boys. does that help you decide where i was? thank you for inviting me today. it is an honor to be on this stage and that celebrate the 100th anniversary of the right to vote. as i began to write my speech for this event, i really started to struggle with the subject. the first draft, the participants, and the details leading up to gaining the right to vote. the question that kept popping up in my head was this, 100 years later, is there enough to celebrate? have we made significant strides in our fight for equality? i kept ignoring the question pushing around my head. the thought kept buzzing in my head like a baby at a picnic. when i finally paid attention on whether we have made significant strides, the answer was an unequivocal no. it was only when i answered the question it and sat down, it was only when i answered that question that the words began to flow. the equal rights movement would not have happened without the dedication and passion of women like kb, and susan b. anthony. they used their anchor to fuel and ignite their voices. many of these women who risk their lives often found themselves find, jailed, in prison, but they still stood up to equality as human beings. even in the earliest beginnings of the country, it was women like sacajawea who showed lewis and clark not only the way to go but carried her baby on her back for 1,000 miles. women like gloria steinem, who earned our respect by bringing women's equality into the mainstream, or rosa parks, who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white woman. she became a powerful symbol of the civil rights movement. and don't forget candace let mayor, who lost her child to a drunk driver. she joined with other grieving mothers to create one of the most successful grass-roots efforts in american history, mothers against drunk driving. for those of you who did the morning sessions, you have taken a closer look at violence and health-care issues within the context of women around the globe. in the midst of gathering information and listening to some statistics, it is hard sometimes to remember the human aspect of these numbers, the personal stories and someone's word spread that is why for today i decided to tell you the will of my own story. i am one of those statistics. it is my hope by sharing some of my story that it will resonate with you and perhaps _ the simple fact that we are all individuals who have choices to make. each of us can make a choice to stand up and join the growing chorus of demanding change in the world. today in san francisco, in beijing, we really need you. nelson mandela once said, we ask ourselves, who in my to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous. notice how you feel when i say that. actually, who are you not to be? you are a child of god. playing small does not serve the world. there is nothing in light about shrinking who you are so that other people will feel less insecure about you. as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give others the permission to let their own shined. my store help me find my own light and the bright myself from what was varied -- from what was buried beneath the pain and tragedy of my childhood. once i move through it and found my way to the other side, i began to reach out instead of hide from it. i came from an italian catholic family of six. my father was a hard-working plumbing and heating contractor, my mother was a housewife and mom. we lived upscale middle-class neighborhood. i went to private catholic school. i was a cheerleader with lots of friends, and i did the captain of the football team. it was seen to be the perfect family. even our pediatrician used to say, what an amazing family you have, and in many ways we did. but underneath that outside perception there was darkness. the darker side of the family. a mother came over from italy when she was a child, first generation born, but they brought over a lot of old school ideas and a pocketful of pride. our family secrets stayed within our family. one of the secrets for us was sexual abuse. i was 7 when i was six or abused by my older brother. it used to lure me into the bedroom with toys. perhaps i got lost in the shuffle. perhaps i thought any attention was better than no attention at all. my father molested me as well, although i have less memory of those events. he also molested my best friend as we laid sleeping one night. we fell asleep listening to elvis presley on the stereo. i must have dozed off because i awoke to the sound of my girlfriends saying, stop it. i was so terrified that i closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. i can't tell you how many years it took me to forgive myself for that. afterwards, my girlfriend to the bathroom, told me what happened. i was devastated and scared and confronted my mother in the morning. her back was to us, a said, mom, mary kay said it dad. chris -- said dad put his hands down her pants. to finally turned to me and said, how could you ever think that your father would do something like that? i remember feeling such guilt, like, wow, what an incredibly horrible boulder in to think something about that. i should have known that my mother's reaction was typical of over 80% of families dealing with these issues. since then she has become the biggest supporter. it took me years to get through the process of grieving. how did i turn that into a message of courage and light? one thing never left my mind in the long process of healing. i refuse to have my life be defined by what happened to me. a one of my life to be about how to survive in rose above those events. in other words, each of us can turn a lemon into lemonade. but iran, those actions of those i love it devastated me. i felt incredibly alone. little did i know how many people were having similar experiences to mind. my personal views may be the victim of the disease is so widespread as to be almost incomprehensible. i'm talking about global violence against women and children. this represents one of the largest global problems facing humanity today. supporting -- at according to amnesty international, one of three women worldwide will be beaten, coursed into sex, with rape in some countries reaching 70%. these devastate the lives of women and men everywhere around the globe. how does this affect you? what relevance does this have today as we sit enjoying lunch at the women's day event? it affects you more than you think. bear with me as i share some statistics. i had the privilege of speaking at the united nations a few weeks ago, a humbling experience. the u.n. has been a leader in establishing the human rights of women. in 1979 that established the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. this is designed to protect women. president carter signed the document and send it to the senate foreign relations committee for a vote in 1980. to date, 31 years later, the united states is the only developed nation that has failed to ratify the treaty, putting us and the company of somalia, sudan, iran, and zimbabwe. this past month and the halls of congress, we have seen an attack on american women like never before. instead of a clear focus on the budget and job creation, there has been a concentrated effort to limit women's rights. we have had a major push in congress to redefine rape to only those women who could prove that they fought back. this would exclude many victims of date rape, children who were raped. we had a legislator from georgia who wants to change the legal term. he but the word to the accuser. victims of lesser crimes like burglaries would remain victims. in south dakota, the bill was proposed that would make it legal to murder a doctor who basically provided a portion care. it would make it legal to kill the doctor. we have another bill, the international violence against women act, a sister bill to that which is the domestic bill. it creates a comprehensive program to address the violence and places women at the center of u.s. foreign policy for the first time in history. it supports measures to prevent violence,. text survivors, and brings perpetrators to justice. we have one of the three lead it drafters of this legislation. the bill was signed by the senate foreign relations committee and has a long way to go for passage. when you think about it, besides the incredible trauma violence is inflicting on our globe, the cost of global violence is huge. the cost of just partner violence, $6 billion per year. canada, $1 billion per year. the united kingdom, $23 billion per year. that is only one aspect. imagine if we took the time to record and tallied the global cost of all types of violence against women. it would be astronomical. man, unless you feel left out, don't worry, you are included in this. that america we have the proud distinction of being one of the most violent places for boys. one in five boys will be molested before they are 13. these figures are low because many -- when sexually abused boys are not treated, society has to deal with them later, resulting in problems like crime and more sexual abuse. the suicide rate for boys who have been abused is 14 times higher than a non abused boy. drug use is 12-40 times greater. many experts believe that