What is the purpose of the conference?

The Women’s Empowerment Conference was created to address the issue of poverty among women. According to the 2008 Kids Count Data Book 41% of Louisiana children under age 18 living in single‐parent families live in poverty.  The majority of those single-parent households are headed by women. A 2008 report compiled by the Child Poverty Prevention Council for Louisiana estimated that 36 to 60% of children in St. Landry parish live in poverty. The World Health Organization found that of the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty around the globe, 70 percent are women; however, women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours. Women aren’t scared of a hard day’s work unfortunately women earn only 10 percent of the world’s income. Where women work for money, they may be limited to a set of jobs deemed suitable for women – invariably low-pay, low-status positions. This last statistic is very disturbing and the foundation for the conference. Martin Luther King said, “There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.” The founder of the conference wanted to elevate the status quo for women by developing an entrepreneur stewardship within conference attendees and assist attendees in developing resources that will allow them to take control of their financial futures.