On Wednesday, September 26, I joined a diverse group of women who are spearheading efforts to engage, empower, and educate women about the issues that matter to our lives, our families, higher education, and our communities.
The panelists included Lindsay Murdock, ASMSU Vice President; Dulaney Collins, representative from AAUW, my mentor Jan Strout, Montana Women Vote and myself! They put my profile as this: Mescalero Apache, MSU student in Nursing and Montana Women Vote canvasser. Looking back, I still don't feel as though I was qualified in the slightest sense to be on this panel but apparently Jan has heard nothing but good things back especially about issues I talked about!
When I was first asked by Jan to do this I accepted it on the spot. Partly because I don't think I've ever said no to Jan and because I thought this would be a great experience and opportunity to learn even more for myself about the upcoming ballot issues. The sort of pitch Jan made was that "because I wear so many hats, I'd be a great perspective to have," or something along those lines. The hats being a Native American woman, a past student athlete, a nursing student, from montana and a reservation...I had to cut her off and say yes before she got too much further. I definitely don't see myself as anyone special when it comes to knowledge and opinions. But here I was, all dressed up in a pencil skirt and heels ready to talk shop on women in politics!
The points we talked about included why Montana Women actually matter in the upcoming elections, The key issues- primarily concerning women's health care such as access to birth control, breast cancer screening, and preventative care.
Dulaney Collins spoke about pay equity and the economic fairness for women, in conjunction with promoting Equal Pay Day events. Lindsay and I spoke about access and affordability for Montana's higher education, then Jan and I both spoke on Women's health care and rights and the impacts on diverse on women.
Then things actually got exciting. For me at least.
I was slightly bored with the way the panel forum was going and was waiting for a moment to spark things up a bit. I got my chance when we started talking about strategies. We quickly established that there are multiple venues of access to a nearly exponential plethora of information out there. However, as I pointed out, there's a key part missing. The excitement and want to access. I asserted that many people in my generation are apathetic and, quite frankly, want nothing to do with politics. I was blunt and said, "Lets be honest, politics is boring. Even though there is plenty of access and availability no one has the want to actually act on the information." After all, as many of my friends have said, "It's their fault they messed up the whole thing, when did it become our job to fix it?"
What we as individuals and corporations who are passionate about issues that are on the ballot this year, and about politics in general, need to do is ignite that spark.
We began throwing out event ideas such as "Women and Wine," but even then we're missing a huge demographic. The demographic of ME. It's individuals between the age of 18-21 who are the ones who need to be most involved in our nations elections. When our demographic doesn't speak out, it's programs for us that get cut first. Take for example, Pell Grants. Hundreds of thousands of Pell Grants have been cut over the past two years and they are continuing to get cut.
Wouldn't you think that by saying the little words as "get a say in what you pay for tuition," would fuel any individual? I thought so, but that isn't quite the case.
We also talked about how we as organizations and activists need to keep an open line of contact with our politicians. From the grassroots up. By keeping the access open to the public, more individuals can express their opinions and ask questions.
As a group, we talked about the power of women to meet our needs when united, the gender gap and the way women voters are underrepresented especially by women with low/ no incomes, rurally isolated, young, ethnic, minorities/ women of color and Native American women.
The biggest thing I took out of this day was the power of collaboration. Not only did I learn a large amount, but I also got connected with a few pretty amazing individuals, all with the same sort of passion and inspiration. I learned that even though I may not think very much about my thoughts, there are people who appreciate them and are open to listening.
After this day I even more excited to continue with my work in educating individuals.
One particular women I met, Pat Oriet, inspired me the most. She and I have been brainstorming since wednesday on ways to reach my demographic.
I was also offered a part time job working with a man our of D.C involved in Planned Parenthood!
I am so excited to see what is to come around the corner!
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