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About

The Women Are Sacred (WAS) Conference is one of the oldest and largest gatherings of advocates, survivors, Tribal domestic and sexual violence programs, Tribal community members, Tribal leadership, law enforcement, and Tribal court personnel dedicated to ending violence against Native American women and children. WAS offers state-of-the-art training and networking opportunities designed to increase the capacity of Tribal nations, Tribal domestic violence, and community-based programs to address violence in Tribal communities.

Conference presenters include emerging Indigenous leaders, advocates, and other experts in the movement to end violence against Indigenous women and other relatives.

The next conference will be held June 26–28, 2023 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the Isleta Resort and Casino. 

Conference Theme

We Are Born from Her: Protecting Earth Mother, Her Women, and Her Children

This speaks to our Indigenous understanding of the sacredness, strength, and power of the feminine spirit that flows through Earth Mother, women, and children.

It is also a call out to name, acknowledge and act on the reality that violence against the Earth, as witnessed by climate change, violence against women, as witnessed by horrific violence against women and children is interconnected. It’s about relationships. Violence requires the breaking of relationships and denial of spirit. Protecting Earth Mother, women, and children requires rebuilding, nurturing, and honoring our relationships. Reclaiming and uplifting the feminine spirit is at the heart of the survival of women, as Indigenous People, and our four-legged, rooted, winged, and water relatives.

The Women Are Sacred Conference represents the strength and resilience of our people and the tools and knowledge we have to make positive change. This conference is an opportunity to gather and build relationships, mourn our losses together, and also celebrate and honor the resilience, power, and spirit of the feminine, together. This is an opportunity to take action, to bring to life our shared vision for the future to end the violence and recreate peaceful, respectful relationships.
 

Tillie Black Bear 'Women Are Sacred' Award

As we pause to reflect on Tillie’s life, the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center honors Tillie’s legacy through a biennial award to recognize outstanding grassroots advocates that exemplify the teachings and dedication that Tillie instilled in our movement to restore safety for Native women.

Please consider nominating an Indigenous relative in the movement that advocates from a woman- and survivor-centered, culturally grounded approach, is known for leadership in social change initiatives and uplifts our connections as relatives, and also pro-actively works to strengthen the capacity within a Tribal Nation or a Native community (including Native Hawaiians and off Tribal/Indigenous homelands) to end violence against Indigenous women, their children and families.

For more information, please visit the official Tillie Black Bear 'Women Are Sacred' Award page.