Brianna Nargiso, Howard University News Service
Washington, D.C.– Thursday, March 4, 2020, The McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University welcomed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as the keynote speaker for the university’s “100 Years of the 19th Amendment,” lecture.
The event was hosted as a kickoff to Women’s History Month. Students across Washington, DC were invited to reserve tickets and attend the lecture.
During the event, Pelosi spoke about the challenges many women throughout the United States faced in order to have the 19th Amendment passed and the bright future she sees for women interested in pursuing politics.
Pelosi stated that women are just as qualified to occupy any office a man has because “every issue is a women’s issue. Women, take ownership of it all.” And have proved to be effective in those roles too.
Kira Macauley, senior government major said it was important to her that Pelosi talked about how important it is for women to occupy traditional man dominated spaces.
“She told stories of her first time as House leadership and what that meant not only to her but also women everywhere, for finally having a seat at the table that they’ve never sat at before. She made a comment about how she thought we would already have a woman president by now and how it’s an important step that our country needs to take, urging more women to run for office,” said Macauley.
“We’ll have a woman president. I know we will. I don’t know who it is quite yet,” Pelosi said, encouraging women to remain focused on the issues and nobody in the crowd who may be interested in one day running for an elected position.
This came as a double-edged sword for some students who were rooting for presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) before she suspended her campaign the morning of the event.
Students agreed with Pelosi’s statements that a lot of the presidential backlash for Sen. Warren was based on misogyny and bigotry.
She also expressed the necessity for young people to exercise their right to vote in hopes of changing the direction of the country. Pelosi suggested that the Trump Administration is one that can only be beaten if people come together to support the democratic nominee.
The lecture allotted time for students to ask questions. Macauley asked Pelosi if having women in leadership would add to more bipartisanship. Pelosi answered optimistically affirming that women can work together.
“I left happy that she took the time to speak to students,” said Macauley.
