willa source

The Women Involved in Legislative Leadership's Source for Information Online

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

This is the email that was sent out to various lists of SFU Students. It contains more of the meeting formats and questions answered.


Willa - The Women Involved in Legislative Leadership Association

(a new club at SFU)

We want you to join Willa! email xmenzies@sfu.ca now!

First general meeting: Thursday Sep 22nd 6:30pm in the Rotunda



What is Willa about?

If you've ever wondered why there aren't enough women involved in politics, you aren't alone. We want to promote more involvement of women in legislative leadership, by being more informed, by being more vocal and by being more pro-active. The purpose of Willa is to link ambitious and talented young women together to learn skills that will help us become better informed political citizens and to develop ourselves. We hope to do all this through our workshop meetings and other fun events.

The story of how Willa came to be can be found on our blog at www.willasource.blogspot.com

What will meetings be about and what kind of time commitment is involved?

We realize that these ambitious and talented women are often ultra-busy building their careers and lives. We think our club can suit that. We aim to meet once a month at a hip location downtown. Meetings will consist of a short update of what every member is up to (so we can all support and perhaps join in to some of our great contemporaries' initiatives). Then, will follow a workshop from a notable female figure (examples of women we aim to have include the CFS BC chairperson, Lisa McLeod, prominent Feminist professors and MLAs like Carole Taylor). Workshops will be on relevant topics such as Robert's Rules of Order (to be able to properly participate in a formal meeting), the History of Women in Politics and where we are now or Being a Woman in Politics and Business . After we learn the skill/ information we will put it into action by doing something like running a formal meeting (for Robert's Rules of Order) or seeking out a positive female mentor for each of us in business or politics (for Being a Woman in Politics and Business). After the meeting, it will be tradition for everyone to go out for dinner to talk about anything and everything!

For those who want to be a driving force for Willa, all executive positions are currently open and will be voted on at our first organizational meeting. The positions of Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. If you are interested in a position, please email xmenzies@sfu.ca with a short blurb on who you are and why you are interested.

What about boys?

Males are more than welcome to join. In fact, the club already has 3 male members. The only condition to join is that you must be dedicated to promoting women in politics.

How do I join?

Send an email to xmenzies@sfu.ca with your name and student number right now! and then, show up to our meeting on Thursday. Since we hope to be a Type II SFSS club this semester, our membership dues are set at $2 for SFU students and $5 for anyone who wants to join that is not an SFU Student(such as staff, faculty, alumni or community members). These membership dues are per semester and can be paid at any one of our events.