Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Empowering Women in Politics

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is an American politician and activist who became the youngest woman to serve in the US Congress. She identifies as a democratic socialist known for her progressive political beliefs and uses social media to connect with the growing younger generation. While her success story is remarkable, being one of the few women who has impacted American politics, her journey to Congress was far from easy. Most women in politics share the same struggle for political office. 

In AOC's case, after serving as an organizer for US Senator Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign, she began her political campaign for the NY-14 congressional seat in 2017 while still bartending in New York. Critics argued that this election would be a predictable loss for AOC as her opponent, Joe Crowley, was a powerful Democrat who had held the seat since 1999. He was more experienced and had $4.3 million in campaign funds. AOC struggled and would only raise $300,000 from donations and grassroots volunteers. Despite it all, AOC's "long-shot" campaign became victorious. She is serving her third term in Congress and continues to break barriers, stereotypes and glass ceilings.

To better understand how women can overcome these challenges, Girl Across Borders (GAB) invited a gender expert to our GAB Speaker Series in January. Alice Apostoly is the Co-Founder of the Gender Institute in Geopolitics in Paris, France. She specializes in feminist diplomacy and international gender issues. The Institute is a research center that uses gender to analyze the geopolitical space. Ms. Apostoly works to raise awareness of gender mainstreaming and how society can address gender inequality and female underrepresentation in politics through a human rights approach. She spoke about why it's still so challenging for women worldwide to get into political office or have a voice in international relations. 

Alice Apostoly understands the importance of female representation in government and politics and started Gender in Geopolitics to raise questions about why women aren't represented in international relations. She believes women need to redefine the meaning of what it is to be in politics so that this goal can be more attainable for the younger generation and representation can finally be achieved. Over the years, politics has historically been male-dominated. According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), in the United States Congress alone, only 28.5% of women hold office out of 535 seats. Therefore, Alice Apostoly urges women to run for office despite seeming unachievable. She shared that a collective of women becoming involved can positively change politics. For young girls, Apostoly urges them to continue seeking knowledge, opportunities for personal growth, reading widely, and being socially and politically aware of national and global affairs. 

As parting advice, she urged the GAB community to face challenges and remain committed. In gaining experiences that would prepare them for life, Apostoly encouraged GAB-ers never to underestimate their worth. For example, women being paid less or not at all should never be accepted. 

Together, women can defeat all institutional obstacles and break the glass ceiling, as many phenomenal women have and continue to do. So follow your dream and never give up. Remarkable trailblazers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, and Hillary Clinton never gave up and continue to pave the way for many more phenomenal women to follow in their footsteps.