Three Georgia State University Alumni alongside Representative Mable “Able” Thomas, held ‘Women of the Future in Politics,’ a panel discussing their recent political campaigns and encourage younger voices.
“The bottom line is for women to believe in themselves and know it’s their time,” Thomas said.
Brionte McCorkle, who recently ran for Atlanta City Council’s 11th District, said it is important for women to step up and challenge the current direction of policy.
“More Democratic women are running than ever before. So even if you take it out of partisanship, I just think that women, in general, are going to be stepping up and running because we feel like we’re at a point now where we confidently govern. If Trump can do it, we can all do it right so I think that’s the future,” McCorkle said.
Having run for the Atlanta Board of Education, Jatisha Marsh encourages other women to run for office.
“Don’t wait ‘till you feel like you can check all the boxes, go ahead, run, you have everything that you need,” Marsh said. “You have experiences, you have the knowledge, and you’re capable and able to run.”
Near graduation, Ebony Jordan, a senior at Georgia State, plans on one day being in their shoes.
“I want to start with being the first African American female on the student board of Gwinnett County. They really need someone, minority, and I feel like I’m qualified and I want to do it, so that’s my first step,” Jordan said.
Pedro Chavez, a junior at Georgia State, said it is essential for women to be included in politics since it is a male-dominated field.
“I think it’s important for women to be in politics,” Chavez said. “That’s definitely a field that’s dominated by men, mostly white men. So, I’m glad to see a diverse panel here representing all sorts of women.”
Liliana Bakhtiari, a candidate for Atlanta City Council’s 5th District, said the hardships she faced ended up influencing the policies she ran on.
“I was homeless for a time period, so that expanded the work that I did. I underwent things like many hardships that woman face,” Bakhtiari said. “Everything from having absolutely no money and almost no way to put myself through school to issues around assault. That expanded the work I was able to do and the ability to really with other people and organizations and gave me an understanding of what needed to be done because I had gone through it.”
During the panel, Elice Agostini, a sophomore at Georgia State, asked Bakhtiari about their campaign experience being a non-white and non-black woman.
“I’m half Ecuadorian and half Guyanese, so my family is a bit of a melting pot as well, and we’re not necessarily black or not necessarily white either so that made a huge impact on me,” Agostini said. “Her running as a non-black, non-white person in Atlanta made a huge difference to me, and I was very excited and very proud to vote for her.”
Note: This article was written for PRN, the student-led news station at Georgia State University.
