750 Women Gather for Their Day at Cal Lutheran

For the past five years, Jan Peyton and Julia Landstrom have had an annual ritual. The Camarillo women pack a lunch--chicken salad in a whole wheat pita, fruit and vegetables--and head to Cal Lutheran University for a day meant just for them.

Peyton and Landstrom joined about 750 other women from throughout Southern California and beyond who spent Saturday exploring yoga, money management and osteoporosis, among more than 70 workshops offered during the 20th annual “Creative Options: A Day for Women.”

“It’s our tradition,” said Landstrom, who was attending a workshop on handwriting analysis, a Japanese tea ceremony and the popular “Unleash the Passionate Playful You.”

Five years ago, classes on personal finance and relationships would have dominated her and Peyton’s day.

“We’ve done all the heavy classes,” Peyton said. “We have fun now.”

“Creative Options” began in 1980 as a way “to help women recognize their own potential, but then it was also a way for women to help other women,” said Kathryn Swanson of Thousand Oaks, who has helped organize the past 13 conferences and attended her 16th on Saturday.

Cal Lutheran’s Women’s Resource Center and the Thousand Oaks branch of the American Assn. of University Women are the chief sponsors of the event, the proceeds of which benefit a Cal Lutheran scholarship fund for women going back to school.

About one-third of the women attending Saturday came from Ventura County, with another large portion traveling from the San Fernando Valley, organizers said.

A few came from as far south as San Diego and as far north as the Bay Area.

A handful live outside California.

“You meet the neatest women, who are open to new ideas in their lives,” Swanson said.

A wide range of ages was represented, from teenagers sharing the day with their mothers to 80-year-olds.

Still, Peyton and Landstrom said next year they plan to bring some younger women with them.

“There’s not enough teenage women here,” Peyton said, “and [that age] is when they need this the most.”

This year’s keynote speaker, former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller, said she was impressed with the age range and the event.

“There’s a lot of energy here,” Mankiller said. And with about 40 community groups and agencies promoting their offerings, “it leaves you with the impression that this is an area that cares about other people,” she said.

Mankiller, who told her audience she never imagined she would become the first female leader of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, said women, regardless of their background, often don’t realize they have creative options.

“We were all raised basically to be wives and mothers,” she said. “I hope my being here will help eliminate any stereotypes of what a chief looks like.”

The day may have started with a speaker named Mankiller, but the doors were not locked to the other sex. Fewer than a dozen men, most joining their wives, attended Saturday’s event.

“The numbers are very small,” Swanson said, “but they’re welcome.”