Maricopa group touts empowering women

Over 40 Pinal County women gathered in Maricopa Saturday to discuss the formation of a women’s organization in the city.

Members of the Zonta Club of Casa Grande, an international women’s organization, held the “Women Empowering Women Luncheon” at The Silver Spur Grill at The Duke. The event included speeches from a dozen female leaders in the community and surrounding areas.

Maricopa City Councilmember Julia Gusse called on women to run for local office.

 “We need more women in politics,” Gusse said. “I hope some of you here are ready to run, whether it’s HOA board, school board, city council, legislative seat, any seat.”

A sampling of local boards show elected women are not far behind equaling seats with men.

In Maricopa three women and four men hold seats on the city council.  Two women and three men lead the Ak-Chin Tribal Council.

Women outnumber men on the Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board, three to two.

National numbers show a wider gap, however.

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 21 percent of women hold seats in the U.S. Senate, 19.1 percent in the U.S. House, 24.8 percent in state legislatures, and 21 percent in the U.S. Cabinet. Only 8 percent of governors in the United States are women.

The statistics for women who work in thriving tech fields are also trailing behind men. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 25.5 percent of women held positions in computer and mathematics occupations in 2016.

Miss Woman Arizona Kimberly Clark attended the event and promoted her “women in technology” platform.

“I started my career in aerospace. I do not look like the people who work with me, I never have, and my goal is to change that,” Clark said.

Bridging the leadership gap in business and politics begins with education, according to some of the women who spoke at the event.

Central Arizona College Representative Monica Vogan endorsed promoting higher education to students at an early age.

“Never once when I was going to school did one college representative come and tell me how to go to college,” Vogan said.

Vogan is the coordinator for the college’s “Promise for the Future” program, which offers scholarships to eighth graders who attends Pinal County schools.

Priscilla Behnke with the Maricopa Community Alliance Against Substance Abuse said her organization improved school attendance with both genders by 50 percent, and 55 percent of teenagers who attended their program increased their grade point averages.

The coalition also consists of adult volunteers who mentor at-risk teens.

“We are losing some of our women mentors and we have a long list of girls,” Behnke said. “We could connect you with a young girl who could really just use somebody in her life to tell her ‘you matter.’”

Local representatives of organizations that provide resources for women facing domestic and sexual violence, substance abuse and behavioral health also attended the event.

Advocating for women’s and family safety was Torri Anderson with Against Abuse; Catherine Barnella with Hope Women’s Center, a future organization she said will be coming soon to Maricopa; Lucinda Boyd with The Streets Don’t Love You Back; and Community Programs Manager Mary Witkofski with the Maricopa Police Department.

A nurse practitioner at Sun Life Center for Women, Danielle Jennings, stressed health education as well as electing more female leadership.

“It’s a scary time in this country because we are not as represented,” Jennings said. “We need women in the government because (elected officials) are making decisions about our bodies.”

A tally of more than 15 signatures produced enough interest by Maricopa women in attendance to set another forum to further discuss the creation of a Maricopa Zonta Club.

The next meeting will take place at The Silver Spur Grill at The Duke Aug. 19 at 2 p.m. For more information contact Debbie Angwood at [email protected].