You Can't Be What You Can't See

Floor Speech

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Ms. HOULAHAN. Madam Speaker, ``Young girls need to see role models in whatever careers they may choose just so they can picture themselves doing that job some day. You can't be what you can't see.''

Madam Speaker, Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, spoke those words. She was a personal hero of mine, one of the few women in STEM I could look up to as a child. And to this day, I am grateful to Sally because she showed me, as a young girl, that being a woman did not prevent her from pursuing her dream, from entering a male-dominated world and space.

Yesterday, I spoke on television with my friend Representative Mikie Sherrill, about the launch of the first ever Servicewomen and Women Veterans Congressional Caucus, and it turns out another young girl was watching.

``Why do those two girls have the same necklace on?'' she asked her father, referring to my and Representative Sherrill's pins. Her father explained the meaning of the pin, explained how we were two women elected to serve in the United States Government.

True equality can only be achieved when every young girl can look up to her leaders and see herself reflected, see a legitimate path for achieving her dreams. For that, we need more women in leadership, more people of color. Our elected representatives need to be a more accurate reflection of America that we represent.

Maybe that young girl yesterday will go into politics, maybe she won't, but she saw two women who were elected by their peers to serve.

``You can't be what you can't see.''

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