This past Friday, March 24th, the Joseph P. Addabbo Health Center hosted a Women of Power Event as part of their Women’s HERstory Month celebration. Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato spoke to the excitement she feels at carrying on the legacy of her mother, Audrey Pheffer, as the first mother-daughter legislative pair in the state’s history; of the crucial role for women in government in promoting and protecting women’s rights; and about how, being a legislator and a mother, women’s issues so often play out tangibly in her life.

“We need to get more women involved; that’s what it comes down to,” said Pheffer Amato. “Most of us start out in the community, and that’s where you’ve always seen women: in PTAs and PAs, in classrooms, in social service organizations. But girls and women need to know their place is in leadership, and there needs to be a way to step up from community involvement.

Pheffer Amato also emphasized the importance of looking out for services, like the Addabbo Center, that help women help themselves. “We need women to make sure that laws are passed so we have same rights to healthcare that men do; we need women to make sure we fully support family health centers like Addabbo. The most important thing is for women to know there are resources where they can educate and empower themselves. That’s what we women in leadership need to look out for.”

Assemblywoman Michelle Titus was also on hand, and pointed out that she’s “looking at Stacey as a partner. Stacey’s mom was my mentor, when I came into the Assembly. And that’s what her family knows so well: the importance of women mentoring women. Each woman does well when all women do well.”