Two hundred-ninety women gathered at the Miyako Hotel in San Francisco October 17-19, 2003 for the inaugural Gather the Women Congress. Women of many diverse cultures came from throughout the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Iraq, Israel, Serbia, Kenya, Brazil and Mexico. They gathered to connect both individual women and diverse organizations to form a multi-dimensional web of shared wisdom, and build a foundation for a new kind of self-organization that embodies the feminine principles as a powerful new technology for effective planetary change. Over 20 organizations partnered in the event that was interwoven with inspirational talks, small circle processes, learn and grow sessions, music, art and dance.
A WORLD THAT WORKS begins with a new kind of partnership...
...one that recognizes both the value of each separate part
and the power of our mutual interdependence.
..one that can create a container large enough to hold
the intentions and offerings of all of us.
...one that rejects the old competitive model of scarcity
and holds instead the reality that
we will create an environment of abundance
only by working in collaboration.
...one that relies both upon what we know logically
and what we know intuitively
about how to bring balance
to this world.
The participants at the inaugural Gather the Women Congress began the weaving of such a partnership. Inspiration, creativity, serendipity, wisdom and concrete outcomes are guaranteed! Together we began to create the butterfly effect that we knew would be felt around the world!
Below is a photo of the event design team on the left and a collage of those
who attended the Aug. 22, 2003 Planning Meeting.
03 GTW Congress Design Team
Myriam LaBarge, Kathe Schaaf, Carol Hansen Grey, Brenda Chaddock
Attendees at the Aug. 22, 2003 planning meeting
and the organizations they represent:
Suprana Basir (AYA), Lynn Bieber (WOVA)
Jean Shinoda Bolen (Millionth Circle)
Johanna Parry Cougar (WomenRise)
Marcella Eversole (SpiralMuse)
Carol Hansen Grey (WOVA)
Bonnie Kaback (Foundation for Conscious Evolution)
Joan Kenley (Millionth Circle)
Bonnie Mansdorf (A Healing Among Nations)
Corrina McFarlane (WomenRise)
Penny McManigal (Millionth Circle)
Susan Miller (WOVA)
Marilyn Nyborg (WOVA)
Hina Pendell (WomenRise)
Dorothy Randall Gray A Healing Among Nations
Sophia Roberts (Congress Music Coordinator)
Kathe Schaaf (WOVA)
Lucky Sweeney (Foundation for Conscious Evolution)
Below is a collage compiled by Carol Hansen Grey of the photos of the women who attended the conference. Credit for taking all these photos goes to Sergio Lub, who archived them in the Gather the Women Living Directory. (Scroll below the names of the attendees to see a list of the countries represented.) At the bottom of the page, you can see/download PDF files of the 03 GTW Congress Program, the Graphic Record beautifully illustrated by Christina Merkley and amazing Touch Drawings created by Deborah Koff-Chapin throughout the event.
Sergio Lub
Joyce Oneko Tells Us of Her Experience at the First GTW Congress
Hi. This is Joyce Oneko, your sister from Kenya, East Africa. When I attended the GTW conference in San Francisco in October, 2003, I did not know what to expect. I had attended the WOVA Feminine Face of Leadership Conference the previous year, and I thought this conference would be in the same vein.
Well, this was not to be. GTW has been an experience like I've never had before.
From the time I checked into the Radisson-Miyako Hotel on the 16th October, I was swept off my feet. The sheer energy among the women was breathtaking!! First I was greeted by this beaming woman who told me "You must be Joyce. I am Joy, and I have been waiting to meet you since I saw your name among the list of participants." Before we finished talking with Joy, another beaming woman approached me telling me she remembered me from the last conference. This was to continue throughout the weekend, and by the time I was leaving Miyako, I had a whole bag full of reading material.
I have never felt so close to so many women as I did during that weekend, and when the women of color went in front there and sang "You are important to me, I need you to survive", I looked at the faces of the 300 women clapping and my HEART sang: "Yes, you are important to me".
After attending GTW, I formed Circle of Hope, a group of women and young girls who come together to share ways of bringing peace between mothers and their daughters. This group of young girls are finding ways of opening communication with their mothers, while the older women are learning ways of relating to their daughters without criticism. Through sharing and playing games like volleyball, these girls and women are becoming buddies.
​
I have made many lasting friendships and connections from this weekend, and there is not one single day when I do not receive an email from one or two women from that meeting. I am constantly in touch with Joy, and we collaborate with in her wonderful "One Village" forum, and this coming November, I am meeting with Janey Burruss and Rosemary Williams of Women's Perspective in my own home where they will spend the night.
​
Joyce Oneko
Mama Na Dada
Kenya, East Africa
Pictured Above: Jean Shinoda Bolen, Carol Flinders, Carol Lynn Pearson, Elisabet Sahtouris, Rama Vernon, Barbara Wolf, Brenda Chaddock, Myriam Labarge, Grace Sears, Shakira Abdul-Ali, Margo Adir, Denni Adamson, Sally Aderton, Ada Aharoni, EnolaAird, Deanna Allen, Edye Allen, Kim Anderson, Francine Anzalone-Byrd, Nakota Ashstarte, Elana Auerbach, Susan Bailey-Harnden, Patricia Bakalian, Hafeezah Basir, Kim Bell, Tyra Benoit, Suparna Bhasin, Lynn Bieber, Maria Bagdanoff, Janet Bowman, Silvia Brandon-Perez, Tiffany Bukow, Gemma Bulos, Dorothy Burkhart, Suzette Burrous, Jan Burruss, Ruth Butler, Cecily Cahill, Anne Caldwell, Clare Campbell, Kelly Campbell, Deirdre Candelaria, Shirley Catanzaro, Denise Chamberlain, Rebecca Cleary-Shaw, Donna Collins, Teresa Collins, Elizabeth Colton, Jane Commerford, Nina Cooley, Marey Corrigan, Alexandra Couvillon, Elizabeth Cox, Lynn Creighton, Violeta Cu Unjieng, Ilene Cummings, Joelle Currat, Suzette Curtis, Barbara Cushing, Lauren Darges, Binnie Degli Innocenti, Jeanie DeRousseau, Joyce Diamond, Sharon Dittmer, Ginny Doctor, Donna Douglass, Joyce Dove, Michele Dugan, Lorrie Eaton, Sherri Eck, Patrice Edwards, Cynthia Ann Eisenberg, Sharon Ellison, Dorothy Ettling, Kaliya Evangeline Hamlin, Margaret Fikioris, Margie Fincham, Anne Fitzgerald, Diane Fleck, Patricia Francek, Sharon Franquemont, Seena Frost, Soni Gaemi, Anita Gambos, Sandy Gaser, Barbara Gilman, Debra Giusti, Dr. Nancy Glock-Grueneich, Thomi Glover, Barb Gordon, Kathleen Gorelick, Nancy Grandfield, Sabine Grandke-Bayer, Margo Gray, Jennifer Green, Soleira Green, Christine Gregory, Phyllis Grimes, Mo Halner, Carol Hansen Grey, Diane Harmony, Sarah Hartzell, Chisao Hata, Marjorie Hauser, Helen Hazlett, Melody Heart, Margaret Hedden, Alice Higgins, Janna Hill, Stephanie Iller, Sharon Hoery, Colette Hoff, Sally Holifield, Wendy Holland, Debbie Howe, Polly Hughes, Carole Isis, Jamie Jeffries, Margaret Jenkins, Joy Jinks, Ronita Johnson, Cynthia Jordan, Bonnie Kelley Kaback, Musumba Kadindwe, Irene Kai, Pary Karadaghi, Betty Karr, Gillian Kean, Suzanne Keehn, Charlotte Kelly, Joan Kenley Gauthier, Mukti Khanna, Suzanne Kincaid, Cynthia King, Deborah Koff-Chapin, Deanna Kuhn, Terra Laggner, Dominique Lando, Elaine Larson, Jennifer Laskin, Karen Latvata, Eleanor LeCain, Lysa Leland, Ariella Shira Lewis, Mary Ann Liebert, JoyAve Lightheart, Monet Lion, Aallyah LivingWell, Laurel Lloyd-Jones, Linda LoCastro, Evelyn Logan, Elizabeth Longmire, Marguerite Lorimer, Gaye Lub, Sonya Lugo, Belinda Lumu, Bonnie Mansdorf, Olivia Maynard, Mary McArdle, Marian McCain, Maura McCarley Torkildson, Corrina McFarlane, Alexis McKenna, Cathy McKenzie, Penny McManigal, Linda Merryman, Katrin Michael, Claudia Miller, Katya Miller, Susan Miller, Talia Miller, Jessica Miranti, Fehrunnisa Moore, Vicki Noble, Jan Nottingham, Marilyn Nyborg, Mary Alice O’Connor, Joyce Oneko, Johanna Parry Cougar, Melanie Patrick, Hina Pendle, Lynne Perry, Clare Peterson, Mary Pillot, Laurie Powell, Judith Prosser, Anique Radiant Heart, Lisa Rafel Surrenda, Dorothy Randall Gray, Jocelyn Rasmussen, Ramsay Raymond, Maureen Redl, Susyn Reeve, Birute Regine, Emily Reilly, Sophia Roberts, Barbara Rocchi, Helene Rosenbluth, Ashley Ross, Penny Roy Fellbrich, Millicent Rucker, Virginia Sanchez-Navarro, Penelope Salinger, Beatrice Savellano, Ann Marie Sayer, Luch Scott, Mary Serfaty, Royona Sharpnack, CarolAnn Shereck, Marci Shimoff, Marilena Silbey, Anya Silverman, Tesa Silvestre, Ann Smith, Betty Ann Smith, Susan Smith, Patricia Smith Melton, Ellen Snortland, Alexandra Snyder, Gloria Stancich, Betsy Stang, Kris Steinnes, Elizabeth Stephenson, Arlene Stepputat, Melanie Stern, Onnolee Stevens, Jo Streit, Deborah Stuart, Karen Stuck Mortensen, Janice Sullivan, Stephanie Sutton, Kristy Swapp, Lucky Sweeny, Joy Tang, Joanne Tawfilis, Julia Taylor, Marnie Tenden, Justine Willis Toms, Jennifer Town, Carol Treadwell, Susan Tremble, Eloise Tweeten, Soheila Vahdati, Carole Vaporean, Barbara Vogi, Merlin Walberg, Cynthia Walker, Linda Watson, Angela Weber, Judi Weisbart, Kayla Wentworth, Devra West, Jo Wharton, Joan Whitacre, Eleanor Wiley, Mary Elizabeth Williams, MeiLan Willis, Margaret Wolff, Judy Woods, Margaret Wright, Christina Merkley, Carolyn Wunderlich, Anna Yang, Mary Elizabeth Young, Susan Zipp.
​
Not pictured: Patricia Carney, Cecilia Dearborn, Pam Derby, Rosemary Field, Jodi Gold, Betty Jones, Ann Kaiser, Jasmine Ketcham, Donna LeBlanc, Elizabeth Lennon, Kathleen Leuba, Evelyn Logan, Elizabeth Longmire, Bhasa Leona Markman, Adesina Ogunelese, Pituka Ortega Heilbron, Susan Pascucci, C.C. Pelmas, Regina Reilly, Teressa Rerras, Kathe Schaaf, Lisa Sparacino, Sue Tomsich, Martine Vallee
Countries Represented (30)
Australia | Bosnia And Herzegovina | Belgium | Bulgaria | Brazil | Belize | Canada | Switzerland | Serbia and Montenegro | Germany | Denmark | Ecuador | France | United Kingdom | Croatia | Indonesia | Israel | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Nigeria | Netherlands | Northern Ireland | Norway | Russian Federation | Sweden | Turkey | United States | South Africa | Zimbabwe
U.S. States Represented (23 + D.C.)
Arizona | California | Colorado | District of Columbia | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Kentucky | Massachusetts | Michigan | Montana | Nevada | New York | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Washington | Wisconsin | West Virginia
2003 GTW Congress Program
2003 GTW Graphic Record
2003 GTW Touch Drawing Record
The Touch Drawings were created by Deborah Koff-Chapin.
The Congress was a GREAT Success!
The graphic below was created by Christina Merkley during the 2003 GTW Congress to preserve a graphic record summary of the event. Click on the pdf above to download all of the Graphic Record summaries she created.
