In honour of International Women's Day, an international conference entitled "Women of the Mountains" was held on 8-9 March, 2007 in Oren, Utah, USA. This symposium, organised jointly by Utah Valley State College and the Kyrgyz National Centre for Development of Mountain Regions, brought together 110 participants from 20 countries. Six core topic were the focus of discussion: culture, health, education, economic issues, human exploitation and leadership.