The voice of De Anza since 1967.

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The voice of De Anza since 1967.

La Voz News

The voice of De Anza since 1967.

La Voz News

IGNITE speakers rekindle flame within potential women leaders

Sirivamo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka. Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. Queen Victoria of Great Britain. What did these women have in common? All were empowered, passionate women who engaged in the political scene to represent and bring social justice and order to their respective countries.

On May 6, the president and founder of the organization IGNITE, Anne Moses, came to De Anza College to speak to students about empowering women in the political scene. During six hours of inspiration and a room full of students, Moses managed to engage every student.

Moses discussed an increasingly rising problem of women who don’t run for office at the same rates as men. They aren’t asked or encouraged to, and they don’t choose to put themselves forward. No one is building a pipeline of younger women who aspire to lead. Among the many topics discussed were ideas for easy ways to educate and inspire young women to run, then to connect them to opportunities where they can exercise their new skills.

Vice President of the student body senate, Neesha Tambe, helped with the logistics and planning of the event.

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“The biggest take away for the attendees was the idea that there was, in fact, a support network specifically for women who wanted to run for politics and that a woman’s voice is just as important at the decision table as anyone else’s,”Tambe said. She concluded that the event was successful and inspirational for young women wanting to learn more about running for office.

During the mini workshops, Moses handed out folders to attendees, with information and tips to guide future aspiring women to run for office.

San Jose Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen and Assemblywoman Sally Lieber both attended the event and gave short, but inspiring speeches about the need of women in the political scene; both relayed the message that women are vital to the success of this country and gender equity.

Statistics show one woman runs for every 29 men who run for office. With this imbalance, Moses is passionate about getting girls and women to follow their dreams all the way to the Senate.

“Women don’t run for office as much as men do. To women who aspire to run for office one day, I would say to get active in your local communities right now. Some women feel intimidated by the low numbers of female in politics, but I want to encourage and inspire these young women to follow their dreams and make a difference in their communities,” Moses said.

IGNITE implements a political training program, specifically tailored to the needs of young women. Moses spoke of training and advising young women who hope to pursue office in the near future. At the end of the talk, Moses took individual videos of each attendee (men and women) voicing out their future aspirations and goals in the political field.

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