Stockton Women’s Network was honored to present a modern day legend, Aileen Hernandez, another speaker who has received national attention for her work in civil rights and women’s rights. She was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as the only woman member of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She was the second national President of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and has founded several Black women’s organizations locally and nationally - including San Francisco-based Black Women Stirring the Waters, which recently published a book of essays by 44 of its members. Her travels throughout the world have given her a global perspective on equity issues and she currently chairs the California Women's Agenda, a network of 500 organizations in the state dedicated to implementing the plan of action adopted by 189 countries at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995. CAWA recommendations were taken to the United Nations conference in June 2000.

Bio:
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Aileen Clarke Hernandez migrated to California to become an organizer and later the Education and Public Relations Director for the Pacific Coast Region of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. She was the Assistant Chief of the California Division of Fair Employment Practices from 1962 to 1965 when she was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as the only woman member of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Frustrated with the limited power of the civil rights agency, she returned to San Francisco and founded her own urban consulting firm in 1967. The firm works with major American companies, governmental agencies and grassroots organizations on a wide variety of issues facing cities - such as housing, employment, education, sustainable development, and transportation. She appears frequently on television, radio and the lecture circuit discussing race and gender relations, human rights, and civic activism.
A magna cum laude graduate of Howard University in Political Science and Sociology, she also holds a Master's Degree in Government, with highest honors, from California State University at Los Angeles and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Southern Vermont College.