A short Q&A about my passion surrounding the fight for gender equality as well as empowering women and how I plan to implement my goals within my community.

1. PROMOTE GENDER
EQUALITY AND
EMPOWER WOMEN
BY ANNALYCIA MATTHEWS
Annalycia Matthews

2. WHY DOES IT RESONATE WITH YOU?
• Growing up, I have been exposed to the realities of the gender wage gap and other societal
gender wars in the workforce and neighboring areas that have disheartened me deeply. Not to
mention, as a woman, I have experienced the disparities that result from gender inequality.
Because of this exposure, I have been drawn to making a change in the world by promoting
gender equality with an emphasis on empowering women.
• Firsthand, I have seen the wonders women do if the resources are made available and every time
I am blown away by their innovative ideas and priority to help other women out in a world filled
with gender inequality. This topic is especially important to me because I care about equality in
all realms, and it resonates with me even more because of the passion I carry for empowering
other women.

3. HOW CAN
YOUR INTEREST
BE APPLIED
LOCALLY?
• My interest can be applied locally by joining local clubs,
collectives, and political groups that rally for the promotion
of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
• Using my voice and letting my passion bleed through in
daily conversations with other locals will help spread the
message for the urgency of gender equality and the
empowerment of women
• Locally, Tacoma hosts many centers and is home to many
communities of people that are supportive of issues
relating but not limited to gender and empowering women
that I can easily access
- i.e. Tacoma Action Collective, Rainbow Center,
YWCA, etc.

4. WHERE CAN YOU MAKE THE
GREATEST CONTRIBUTION?
Personally, I believe I can make the greatest contribution by starting
small and working throughout my inner circle of friends, family, and
coworkers. I want to discuss plans and implementation with the
people that are most familiar with my goals and are able to
familiarize me with others who can help me carry out my plans
successfully. The community I devote most of time and efforts to is
Tacoma, WA and I know this is a great area to jumpstart my ideas in
order to get them rolling.
Thankfully, my community aligns with my goals to empower women
and promote gender equality, specifically in the workforce and via
education so I know I will have the support necessary to strive.

5. IS THERE A FEATURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA THAT CAN
BE UNIQUELY APPLIED TO THIS GOAL?
Social media holds immense power when attempting to spread messages and have them received
by hundreds, thousands, and millions of people. Social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Tumblr, and so much more are great hotspots for spreading information quickly. These
platforms make it a lot easier for people all across the world to find out about something that may
not be happening near them, but definitely deserves their recognition and action to follow.
Mainstream news outlets heavily utilize these platforms as well, which all the more makes them
valuable to finding out about the issues that surround gender inequality and allows people to see
the importance of empowering women.
• Hashtags are essential to branding a topic and following it in real time, which are common on
most of the social media platforms listed above
#PromoteGenderEquality #EmpowerWomen