Texas Women Empowerment Fund

This fund will add additional resources to our Texas Women Empowerment Scholarship. A scholarship that will be a step towards a more equitable Texas for women. Since Texas became a state in 1845, there have been only nine women elected to executive office outside of the State Board of Education. The current 87th Texas legislature is made up of only 26.6% women, and in our judicial branch, we’ve had only 14 women elected to our highest courts since statehood. These numbers add up to a Texas government that cannot successfully represent the 50% of Texans who are women. Additionally, according to the Texas Women’s Foundation report on Economic Issues for Women, “While women complete college at higher rates than men, they also are burdened with greater debt in pursuit of those accomplishments. Women hold nearly two-thirds of the outstanding student debt in the United States—about $929 billion. The irony is that women earn these degrees with the promise of higher-paying careers, yet while working in these higher-paying jobs, they are paid less than their male counterparts.” This scholarship, and the funds you add to it, will work towards balancing the scales by not only lowering the financial burden women face in higher education, but also by supporting the educational goals of young women who are interested in reducing disparities in our state. Women who will empower others by going on to shape policy, laws, and other public programs that will improve gender equality, reproductive rights, workplace equity, women's health, child care, political parity, and other related issues in our state. Special consideration will be given to applicants from underrepresented and marginalized communities.