By Edward Pollard
March is Women’s History Month – a month that gives us the opportunity to commemorate and celebrate the vital role of women in American history. There are so many women who never make headlines or evening news coverage, but accomplish heroic feats on a daily basis and contribute to the overall progress of women everywhere. As a boy being reared by a single mother, every day I witnessed my mother being superwoman. She had to provide for two children (one with autism), as well as take care of household responsibilities. She was a college professor during the day, a student studying for her doctorate in the evenings, and still had time to make it to every one of my basketball games, school performances, and everything else in between. From the outside looking in, she never displayed any worry or doubt; she never communicated any of her struggles or barriers, but I’m certain she had many. In classic woman form, she leaned on her strong faith, pressed forward, and did not make excuses. She made it happen.
As a Houston City Council Member, I have the privilege to serve with nine extraordinary women. When I was elected in 2019, I was the only male joining an incoming class of eight other women. On the campaign trail, I rarely heard people talk about the possibility of electing more women to council than men, but at our council freshman orientation, we all looked around the room and noticed, “wow, other than Pollard, it’s all women.”
For the first time in our city’s 183-year history, we have a majority of women on city council, serving in 9 of the 16 seats, each elected solely on intellect, merit, and hard work. Also, for the first time, we have five black female council members. In each of the historically African American districts (B, D, and K), all three are represented by black women. In the long history of District F, which represents primarily Alief, residents there have never elected a woman or black person before, until now. Additionally, we also have the first Muslim woman serving on council in our city’s history.
We are seeing a political shift all over the nation, but especially locally here in Harris County. Women are outvoting men at the polls, and women are winning many bids for public office traditionally held by men. Not only do we have more women than men on city council, we also have more women than men serving on judicial benches in our Harris County courts, as well as the first woman being elected Harris County Judge, our county’s highest ranking elected official.
However, for all the strides women continue to make in every space in society, they still face many barriers that need to be permanently knocked down, such as pay inequity, motherhood penalties, sexual harassment, and others. Many of the challenges women face have a foundation laid with a lack of respect for them and what they have to offer. The contributions of women must be not only acknowledged and celebrated, but they must be seen and felt in a tangible way from the living room to the board room. And in the words of the late Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.”
In my own life, the contributions and sacrifices of my wife – the first in her family to graduate from college, then earn her law degree – have allowed me to pursue many of my own ambitions. Moreover, every person can likely think of many women who have poured into their lives to shape you into who you are. We must value women, for without them there would be no us. Women are phenomenal, and I am honored to recognize them for Women’s History Month, where I have no doubt that as the history book continues to be written, the pages will be filled with more progression, accomplishment, and success.
