Illustration by Arnie Bermudez

If you are the average college student, you know that the chief function of a Saturday morning is to sleep in and make up for the precious hours of REM time lost due to projects, papers and procrastination.

Yet a group of about 80 UA undergraduates gave up the comfort of their comforters Saturday to attend the second annual Women's Leadership Conference, presented by the Susan Bulkeley Butler Institute. This daylong event, which took place at the Student Union Memorial Center, featured lectures from prominent women in business and science, and workshops designed to endow participants with stronger leadership skills and strategies to deal with the stresses and hazards of the working world.

Now in the past, I've always been wary of such estrogen-driven events, an aversion because of the massive stigmatism attached to them. The feminist overtones that color these events made me avoid conferences like this one, lest I succumb to the mad ranting of an unshaven, man-hating feminazi.

Susan Bonicillo Columnist

Furthermore, the underlying spirit of feminism driving these women's conferences is rooted in a movement that, decades ago, found validity and purpose. However, in the present, with the bevy of rights afforded to the American woman, feminism not only seems unnecessary, but also trivial. The issue of empowerment seems a moot point in the face of all the steps taken toward equality between the sexes.

Still, the treatment of American women is far from perfect. The achievements of the feminist movement have produced delusions as to the role of women in society.

As a nation, we proudly tout the fact that our women are treated far better than women of other countries. We claim moral superiority over Islamic countries by virtue of this very fact.

Yet predominately Muslim nations, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey, have all had female heads of state. In contrast, the United States has yet to even nominate a woman as a major-party presidential candidate.

There is no question that, in America, women have the same legal rights as men. However, what need to be changed are the deep-seated attitudes and beliefs that dictate what place a woman has in society.

All the legal changes and rights given to women will not find force or authority unless the populace believes in the motives that govern such changes. Yet American culture still does not give women the same kind of consideration that men are given. Women are still put in traditional roles due to an old-fashioned belief promulgated in the minds of the people and reinforced by mass media.

Take for example the role of advertisements. They are highly visible and ubiquitous - about 3,000 advertisements are seen by the average American each day. Due to their pervasive quality, advertisements arguably have one of the strongest holds upon our imagination and thinking.

With women either half-naked and advertising anything from perfume to snow tires or hawking the latest cleaning product, ads traditionally pattern women as highly sexualized objects or subservient domestics.

These ads, to put it bluntly, relegate women to roles of service. Seen as accommodating, inoffensive and nonthreatening to men, these images influence what a woman is expected to be, much to the detriment of our nation's effort to move toward any semblance of equality.

With such heavy influences dictating compliancy and submission in women, it's hard not to see these influences manifest themselves in the behavior of women everywhere.

Every day on campus, I am surrounded by a wealth of bright, intelligent women. Yet these same capable women can, at a drop of a hat, channel the spirit of Jessica Simpson, silencing opinions and thoughts that are only expressed in select company.

The insta-ditz syndrome that affects these women makes conferences like the one held Saturday ever the more urgent and needed.

Susan Bonicillo is a journalism sophomore and hopes for a time when conferences are not needed to tell women of their worth and potential. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.