More than 7,500 attendees gathered at the Austin Convention Center today for the 25th annual Texas Conference for Women, where keynote speakers delivered powerful messages on this year’s theme, “Power in Unity.”
Isabel Allende, award-winning author and lifelong women’s rights advocate, emphasized the historic moment for women. “For the first time in history, millions of women are empowered by education, healthcare, jobs, and information—and any hope for peace and prosperity is in the hands of Western women,” she said. “But we are not alone. Millions of men are sharing with us a vision of a new order.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 11-time Emmy Award-winner and host of the podcast Wiser Than Me, also highlighted the value of connection, telling the audience, “Human connection is invaluable; we should cling to it with our lives.”
The Texas Conference for Women, the largest event of its kind in the state, is a nonpartisan and nonprofit event focused on leadership, career advancement, and personal development for women. This milestone year featured high-profile speakers including Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, who discussed the need for more female inventors. Blakely pointed out that while women made up just 6% of primary patent holders in 2000, the number has only risen to 13% today. “We are living in a world created by men. We need the female point of view,” she urged.