Last month I announced that I will be hosting my first Women’s Issues Conference, “Women Driving the Economy” on October 10. I am happy to share some exciting updates with you today.

Working in collaboration with George Mason University’s Arlington campus, this program will offer hands-on programs designed to help women find, apply for and get good jobs. We will also offer free headshots for all attendees and workshops dedicated to the critical components of a modern job search, like writing a resume tailored to online career networks.

This program is free to all, just be sure to register online at my website ahead of time. We are happy to be able to provide childcare for all parents who want to attend. I am hosting this event because after 40 years in business, I know that when women succeed, America succeeds.

The best way to ensure true financial security for all middle class families is to support women in the workforce. Working women make up almost half of the American labor force and 40 percentof American households depend on a woman breadwinner – we need to make sure women have an equal shot in the workforce.

And income inequality in this country is directly tied to the pay gap between men and women.

The program’s keynote speaker will be Small Business Administration administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, who oversees the organization responsible for creating nearly two out of three new private sector jobs in our economy and half of our nation’s private sector workforce. She has been a pioneer in establishing women in leadership roles in the economy as a public and private sector manager and philanthropic champion.

Administrator Contreras-Sweet’s keynote delivery will be followed by a plenary panel moderated by Megan Beyer with Judith Warner from the Center for American Progress and author of the 2005 New York Times best-seller Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety, local small business owner El Brown, and Rebecca Shambaugh, a leadership trainer for women in the workforce.

Following this panel discussion, participants will break out into leadership training sessions on a number of topics affecting working women, including resume writing, using social and career networks, financial planning, perfecting interview skills and salary negotiation tactics.

These are all important topics that too many of the workers in our modern economy miss out on, men and women alike. Finding a job and building your career in the 21st century requires a host of diverse skills that I hope to leave participants with in October.

GMU’s Arlington campus is easily accessible from the Virginia Square stop on the Orange Line, with garage parking available at the campus. You must register to attend this event and can sign up by visiting our website at beyer.house.gov or contacting my district office at 703-658-5403.

Rep. Beyer can be reached through his website at www.beyer.house.gov, on Twitter @RepDonBeyer or his office at (202) 225-4376.