Tucson Local Media - Empowering Tomorrow's Women Leader

Op-Ed

By Martha McSally

Women and girls are one of our country's greatest untapped resources. We make up half of the population, yet, for decades, our society has not lived up to its responsibility of showing girls they can be whatever they want to be and providing them with the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential.

Despite recent advances, data shows women are still significantly underrepresented in major fields:

* Women make up only 14 percent of senior executives in S&P 500 companies;

* Women hold only 17 percent of board seats in fortune 500 companies;

* Women make up only 7 percent of top ranks in the military;

* Women make up only 25 percent of computer and mathematical scientists and only 13 percent of engineers, despite comprising nearly half of the workforce;

And, in Congress, women make up less than 20 percent of lawmakers.

If we want to unleash every woman's full potential, we need to empower them to succeed. We need to identify opportunities for women to open more small businesses, hold more board positions, sit at the table as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and much more. In addition, we need to continue encouraging young women and girls to set their goals high and let nothing stand in their way.

Who better to inspire success and ambitions than successful women leaders from our own community?

On June 11, my office will host Southern Arizona's first-ever Congressional Young Women's Leadership Program, a one-day event designed to help build leadership skills and inspire young women to achieve more in their careers and education. The program provides young women currently enrolled in high school with the opportunity to meet and interact with women from Southern Arizona who hold leadership roles and have built successful careers in government, business, medicine, media relations, and other professions.

Just some of the accomplished women who will participate include: Mountain Vista Fire District Chief Cheryl Horvath who brings more than 23 years of experience in fire service and is co-founder of Camp Fury, a program that introduces girls to careers in public safety; Sharon O'Neal, an engineering director at Raytheon Missile Systems who supervises more than 500 software engineers and is a lead sponsor of the University of Arizona's "hackathon," an event designed to promote careers in cyber-security; and Dr. Andrea Overman, the principal of Douglas High School and someone with more than 26 years of experience at all levels of education.

Program participants will have the opportunity to engage with their peers and guests in candid discussions while sharing insights, advice, and stories. Students also will learn about career opportunities in various fields and the legislative process while developing leadership skills and practicing effective communication with others.

The deadline for applications for the program, which can be found at mcsally.house.gov, is May 9, 2016.

Quite simply, this program is about encouraging young women to be fearless, dream big, and let nothing stand in their way of achieving their fullest potential. I encourage high schoolers throughout the Second District to take advantage of this unique opportunity and apply for the Young Women's Leadership Program at my website.

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