St. Cloud Times
By Amy Bowen • November 13, 2009
Women need to fight for what they believe in and help make Minnesota politics more diverse.
About 80 people packed Mary Center in St. Cloud to hear that message Thursday from two Minnesota female politicians. State Sen. Patricia Torres Ray and Virginia City Councilor Nevada Littlewolf spoke at Taking YOUR Seat at the Table. The event aimed to encourage women to strive for leadership positions in government and other sectors.
The event was sponsored by The White House Project, a national nonprofit encouraging more females to enter politics, and Hands Across the World, a St. Cloud-based nonprofit that aims to help immigrants and refugees adapt to life in the United States.
“The greater idea is getting women to the table,” said Catherine Gray, the Midwest associate director for The White House Project, St. Paul. “Women are leading in smaller ways, and this is to get them to the tables where the decisions are being made.”
The public has the perception that females have made progress in holding government leadership roles, but the statistics tell a different story, Gray said. In Minnesota, one in 10 county commissioners are women, she said. Women hold about 18 percent of leadership roles in politics and other business sectors, she said.
The goal of Thursday’s event was to encourage ordinary women to take action, Gray said.
Interest in the topic was evident. Rows of people sat, while others stood pressed up to the walls, as Ray and Littlewolf spoke. Some took notes, while others nodded in agreement as the women spoke. The audience was diverse, from people who said they were born and raised in St. Cloud to immigrants from Somalia.
Such diversity needs to be heard, said Brianda Cediel, co-founder and executive director of Hands Across the World.
“This is just the beginning,” she said. “I want everyone to get prepared for leadership.”
Neither Ray nor Littlewolf aspired to serving in office, they told the audience.
Littlewolf was elected to the City Council in 2008, driven to run after realizing her daughter had Down syndrome. At age 33, she is the only member under the age of 50, the only woman and the only Native American on the council.
“There are a lot of things I bring to the table and how I lead that are different,” said Littlewolf, who also serves as the White House Project’s Midwest rural field organizer.
She would like to see more women become involved in local politics to create a “pipeline” to other elected offices, Littlewolf said.
Ray, who serves state District 62, which includes southeast Minneapolis, told the audience she didn’t know any English when she moved from Colombia to Minnesota 22 years ago.
She credits a friend, who was a social worker, with helping her become active in her new community, Ray said.
Ray is the first and only Latina to serve in the state Senate.
One audience member, who said she was from Somalia, complimented Ray’s English skills and said the senator was “very smart.”
Ray smiled and replied that learning the language is the most difficult aspect of coming to a new country, and that she continues to learn.
Anyone can become a leader, and strength is in community diversity, Littlewolf and Ray said.
“I knew St. Cloud was changing,” Ray told the audience. “I wanted to come here and meet (you).”
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