This weekend, the Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership kicked off its newest program to promote civic involvement, Ready to Run, and I was excited to play a part in it.
Ready to Run is a non-partisan program that encourages more women to be involved in public service. This weekend’s workshop brought together professionals from both parties to teach skills like issue advocacy, fundraising, and social media best practices. It also gave women the opportunity to sit with other Mississippi women to find ways to bridge the gap between political views and discover common ground from which to launch a better future for our State.
Women make up 51.5% of our State’s population, but we’ve been underrepresented in the political sphere. Mississippi has never sent a woman to represent us in Washington, and we’ve never elected a woman governor. In fact, we’ve only had four women elected statewide in our whole 200 year history! And, women comprise less than 14% of our Legislature. We all benefit when women from all walks of life bring their perspectives to public policy discussions. I’m proud to work with the Stennis Center to encourage women to be more involved.