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Welcome to WIA
We are Women In Action... Over 100 members can't be wrong.
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ATHENA
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Meet Mary GrangerThe Early Years of Women In Action In 1982, Mary Granger and eight other women, all responded to the chance comment made by a county commissioner. "We don't know any women who are qualified to serve." was his answer when asked why more women, who are qualified, are not appointed to serve on county boards and commissions . Mary Grangers said, "I will find you some!" Within a week several women leaders in the community came together to form a group to meet this need. Eight women decided that they would call them selves, Women In Action and they began to meet regularly, reaching out to others to join the cause. There mission was to to encourage and support women who wished to play leadership roles in the community. At this time, most service clubs were made up of men only. The Vancouver Chamber was primarily male, served by an all female staff. No women served on a corporate board in Clark County and women were just barely represented on city and county commissions. The efforts of this small group spread and membership swelled to over fifty. Meetings showcased accomplished women as speakers, workshops were held to provide members of the responsibilities of leadership and ideas about how to get involved were offered. The rest is history. Many more women are playing an influential role on the decision making bodies in our community. Service clubs now allow women as well as male members and the Vancouver Chamber of Commerce board of directors has many seats filled by women and some women have been president. We have come a long way, but but the mission of more women in governmental and leadership positions keeps our mission alive. After all we have yet to elect a woman president. |
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