Women haven’t always been allowed to partake in politics. Even in today’s politics, women are still facing oppression and breaking the glass ceiling. Every single woman no matter what position is inspiring in their own ways. I could have written about almost every woman in politics past and present. The women in this article are my biggest role models and they let me know that I can do anything.
1. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
Congresswoman Maloney has served as a US Representative for New York’s 12th district since 2013. She previously served for the 14th district of New York (1992-2013). While in office thus far, Maloney has been accompanied by many firsts. She not only was the first woman to represent the 12th district and the 7th councilmanic district, but also the first woman to give birth while holding office as the 7th councilmanic district representative. On top of that she was the first female Chair of the Joint Economic Committee. Fun fact: throughout all of history there has only been 18 woman to chair a congressional committee. Rep. Maloney has been fighting for women’s rights since day one and since 9/11, she has fought for compensation for the first responders and survivors.
2. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
Congresswoman Pelosi was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1987. In 2007 she was made the first female Speaker of the House. She is currently serving her third term as Speaker, and is the first person to serve a third term in over 60 years. During her time as Speaker, she has tackled many issues and supported many foundations including, For The People, lowering health care costs, increasing workers’ pay, and cleaning up corruption to ensure Washington works for all. Rep. Pelosi was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2013. Pelosi has made climate change her main priority. She also helped to pioneer the Affordable Care Act. According to the Christian Science Monitor, “Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in American politics and the most powerful House Speaker since Sam Rayburn a half century ago.”
3. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Justice Sonia Sotomayor is the third woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court and the first Hispanic woman. While watching an episode of Perry Mason at the age of 10, Justice Sotomayor realized she would become an attorney. In 1979, Sotomayor graduated law school at 25 and was hired to work for Robert Morgenthau’s office. It didn’t take long before Sotomayor made a reputation for herself as a force to be reckoned with. Before switching to a private practice in 1984, Sotomayor prosecuted and put many vicious criminals behind bars. From petty crimes to homicides she prosecuted them all – even the notorious Tarzan murder case and the bust of a huge child pornography ring. By 1988 she made partner at the private practice. Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, she served as a judge on one of the US district courts. There she would become well known for her landmark ruling in the case of Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee, Inc. In 2009, she was nominated for the Supreme Court by president Obama. She is still currently serving.
4. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born into a working class family in the Bronx. From the beginning, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez truly understood what it meant to have privilege. She went to a school in Yorktown which was about 40 minutes from her house. Because of how the public schools in the Bronx were functioning, that was the cause for her to go to school so far away. Supporters of her campaign say, “It was clear to her, even then, that the zip code a child was born in determined much of their destiny.” This being such an important aspect of her early life, she has made sure to fight for Housing as a Human Right. This ranges from COVID-19 relief to building affordable housing. In 2020 police brutality was brought into the light more so than ever following the death of George Floyd. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez knew something would have to be done, so in turn, she invests time in Real Public Safety. This issue is more than just the plan to end police violence, but also protection for incarcerated citizens during COVID-19 and a movement to invest in the people, not prisons. So far in her time as a member of The House, she has “passed 78 pieces of legislation through the House, 14 of which became law.”
5. Vice President Kamala Harris
Vice President Harris was born to her two emigrant parents. From an early age, Harris was raised to believe in activism. Her mother instilled in her that she would do great things. Harris explains how her mother “would look at [her] and she’d say, ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.’” This has held true throughout her life, most prominently to be not only the first female VP, but also the first woman of color to serve as VP. Prior to her Vice Presidency she served as district attorney, general attorney, and a US Senator. In 1990, at the early age of 26 – fresh out of law school – she worked with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. During her time there, she prosecuted child sexual assault cases. It’s as if she was the real life Olivia Benson. In 2003, she was elected as District Attorney for San Fransisco. While in this role she founded a program that would allow first time drug offenders have an opportunity to earn their high school degree with the hopes to find employment. Vice President Harris serves the people by the motto of what she said the very first time she stood in a court room. “Kamala Harris, For the people.” Harris was elected to be a senator for California and in 2020, she and President Joe Biden were elected into office.
Bonus: Late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg
From an early age Justice Ginsberg was taught to love and value education. Ginsberg married her husband following her graduation from Cornell University in 1954. She decided to take a break from schooling and start a family. Their first child was born in 1955. Ginsberg eventually enrolled in Harvard Law and was one of nine girls in a 500 person class. In 1956, her husband was diagnosed with cancer and she not only kept her spot as number one is the class, but also helped her husband stay up to date on his studies. In the years after her graduation in 1959, she had a lot of different jobs in law and at each one, she faced lower pay and gender-based discrimination. In 1980, she was appointed to the US Court of Appeals and served there until 1993 when President Clinton put a nomination through for her to serve on the US Supreme Court. She served on the court up until age 87 when she sadly passed away in 2020. While serving as a Justice, Ginsberg fought for women’s rights. One of the things she was known for was the collars she wears and their significance to her decisions. “Over time, Ginsberg’s collars came to symbolize more than just a long-overdue feminine energy on the Supreme Court,” wrote TIME. Prior to 2018, she never missed an oral argument even while going through “chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, after surgery for colon cancer, or the day after her husband passed away in 2010.” She never let anyone forget that she was indeed a force to be reckoned with. Fun fact: Ruth Bader Ginsberg worked in the Supreme Court’s exercise room with a personal trainer up until her death. For awhile, she was able to lift more than Justice Kagan and Justice Breyer.