Long Beach's newest commission will tackle issues affecting girls and women
The group started meeting this summer and will take part in the city's second annual women's fair Monday, Aug. 26.
When Long Beach holds its second annual women’s fair next week, it will be a proud moment for Zoe Nicholson.
Not only does she appear in a documentary that will be shown after the fair, she can enjoy both events knowing she helped create something she’s wanted for decades: the Long Beach Commission for Women and Girls, which will look at issues such as pay equality, education and job opportunities for female residents.
And it’s about time, in Nicholson’s opinion — a similar commission for Los Angeles County will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025 and a state women and girls commission is even older than that.
The first woman to serve on the Long Beach City Council, Renee Simon, tried to establish a women’s commission in the 1970s, said Nicholson, who serves as vice chair of the new group.
But at the time, one of Simon’s male colleagues on the dais told her that if she tried to start a women’s commission, he would start a men’s commission, Nicholson said. "So she put it on the floor and never got a second,” Nicholson added.
Future attempts to propose a women’s commission went nowhere — until last year, when Councilmember Cindy Allen brought the idea forward with unanimous support. The commission was seated earlier this year and held its first meeting in June.
For Nicholson, whose bona fides include a 37-day fast to urge passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1982, having the commission will help ensure women aren’t overlooked in city issues.
About five years ago, Nicholson said, she was livid when she learned a city-commissioned study on demographics such as income and housing status didn’t separate out data on women. The statistics, she said, didn’t account for the fact that women on average earn less than men in the same job, but their expenses such as rent are the same as men’s.
By exploring issues including how women work, earn, travel and deal with discrimination, and how girls are educated as compared with boys, the new commission will “make sure that women will not be made invisible from this moment forward. That’s our mission,” Nicholson said.
Samantha Mehlinger, who chairs the new commission, dates her feminist leanings to her undergraduate days at Chapman University, when female students were putting on “Take Back the Night” events to raise awareness about rape and other violence against women.
“My first year attending that was really eye-opening to me, because it was just woman after woman that I knew” sharing stories of being sexually assaulted and then not believed when they reported it, Mehlinger said.
As a journalist, she wrote about inequities women face in the business world, and now she hopes the commission can help correct them.
The city is full of economic opportunities and well-paying jobs related to the Port of Long Beach, logistics, the space industry and health care, and women should be educated about what’s out there, Mehlinger said.
She also highlighted a 2022 survey sent to women and girls across the city, which outlines issues for the commission to tackle, including women’s access to health care, gender equity in education and policies to ensure girls and women are safe, both in public and in private spaces.
“If there’s no one beating the drum or no system in place to create awareness or to address inequities, they won’t be addressed,” she said.
The Long Beach Commission for Women and Girls, an advisory body that can make recommendations to the City Council, usually meets the fourth Wednesday of the month in the civic chambers at City Hall. You can find meeting agendas here.
The second annual Long Beach Women’s Fair, offering entertainment, refreshments and information about activities and services for girls and women, will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 26, in the plaza next to City Hall, 411 W. Ocean Blvd.
That evening at 7:30 p.m., the Art Theatre at 2025 E. Fourth St. will show “Still Working 9 to 5,” the documentary in which Nicholson appears. The women’s fair and movie screening are free.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the documentary screening time and note a survey conducted by the city.
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