Once upon a time there was a little girl who didn’t view gender as a barrier.

She knew she was strong.

She new she was smart.

She knew that she was “luckier then boys because she got to wear dresses OR pants”.

And she knew that she could grow up and be anything she wanted to be;

then she went to Washington DC.

The little girl saw this picture in the office of  congresswoman and she asked her Momma,

“Momma what is this picture of?”

The Momma answered,

“It’s the members of congress that were a part of  the Congresswoman’s first term in office”.

The little girl looked perplexed,

“Why aren’t their more women Momma?”

You see, that little girl knew she was as smart as the boys in her class.

She knew her history, her math and could read super fast.

She also knew that to work in DC and make laws you had to be a person who was willing to do right by those you represent (her momma taught her that), and she for sure knew she could do that.

This little girl knew she had all those things and never doubted that she could go to DC and run the country.

But now, in this moment, she was doubting.

For the first time she was confronted with the statistics and she wondered aloud to her Momma-

“Maybe it isn’t so good to be a girl?”

And for a moment her momma doubted too.

She told the little girl that she needed to ask the Congresswoman what she thought.

Armed with the image in her head of all of those men in suits, that little girl marched up to the Congresswoman and asked her a question-

“Why aren’t there more women in Congress?”

And just as the words slipped out of the little girl’s mouth, the Congresswoman knew what she had to do.

She knew that little girl just needed to hear, that regardless of what she saw, she could be whatever she wanted.

So she made the little girl sit in her chair.

She told her that just because there weren’t more women in that picture now it didn’t mean she couldn’t be in that picture too.

She made the little girl promise that she would work hard.

She told her she would help her in any way she could.

She made her stand on a chair and point at the picture.

She wanted the little girl to see herself in that same picture two decades from now.

The smile that spread across that little girl’s face was all-encompassing.

Her momma couldn’t help but feel the importance of that moment.

And just like that the little girl went back to thinking she could be anything she wanted to be.

 “Momma, she was my favorite.”