The Daily Gamecock

Bee Day advocates women's involvement in government

<p>In a state in which women are underrepresented in government, South Carolina's Bee Day encourages women to become more involved.</p>
In a state in which women are underrepresented in government, South Carolina's Bee Day encourages women to become more involved.

"Get engaged," "get involved" and "encourage strength in women" are the calls to action that were spread throughout the South Carolina Statehouse lobby in the spirit of Bee Day on Wednesday morning.

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter and Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, along with other notable women, took the floor to advocate for women’s rights on Tell Them’s annual Bee Day.

Tell Them is a grassroots advocacy organization powered by thousands of local South Carolinians looking to make their voices heard. Dr. Eme Crawford, director of advocacy for Tell Them, opened the press conference for the annual event.

“Bee Day is Tell Them's annual lobby day where we advocate for the advancement of health, economic well-being and rights of South Carolina women, girls and their families," Crawford said.

Crawford revealed some shocking statistics about the state of South Carolina and their representation of women in legislation to show the importance of Bee Day and women's advocacy. South Carolina falls within the bottom 10 states for women elected to office and, if this pattern continues, Crawford says that South Carolina will have to wait over 200 years to reach equality in the state’s legislature.

The first speaker was Rep. Cobb-Hunter. She riled the crowd with her upbeat and bubbling personality. The Orangeburg County representative sought to inspire women to run for office and encourage other women to do so. 

“The whole point of all this is to say to women, 'We are strong,’” Cobb-Hunter said. “It matters who is in office. It matters when women are not represented. South Carolina is in the bottom when it comes to representation from women. My message for you today is to get engaged. Get involved. We need to be paying attention to these elections. November 2016 is important.”

Following Cobb-Hunter was Pat Forbis, a member of the League of Women Voters. The League is an organization that has encouraged and advocated for women’s rights since the women’s suffrage movement, which gave women the right to vote.

Lastly, Sen. Matthews took the podium to conclude Bee Day’s press conference. Matthews is one of two female senators the people of South Carolina have elected to office. She has been fighting for women for 26 years and plans to continue her fight, but she realizes it is not a job for just one person. She needs women to stand up with her and get involved with legislation.

"Why are we, in the state of South Carolina, with only one African American female in the state senate?" Matthews said. "Why are we, in the state of South Carolina, with only two (female) senators in the state senate? I have been concerned about that, but even more so why, if we have over 74 percent of women voting in the elections, why are we so underrepresented?”

Matthews went on to answer her own question, saying that women had been content to let people tell them when to take action.

“As of today, there have been a lot of pledges going around," she said. "We need to pledge to ourselves to step forward and do what we need to do to protect our rights.”


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