IGNITE pushes for women in politics

IGNITE pushes for women in politics

By Eileen Chen     11/5/24 11:39pm

A new chapter of IGNITE, started under the national organization of the same name, was founded at Rice by Aleena Ahmad and Carmine Steiner this semester. The organization is dedicated to closing the gender gap in the political sphere by encouraging civil and political engagement for women and nonbinary people, according to their website.

Steiner said the club provides members with the skills and confidence to promote change in politics. 

“I think there’s a lot of great political organizations and civic engagement clubs on campus, like Civic Duty Rice [and] RiceVotes. But what I noticed that Rice was lacking was one specifically aimed at women,” Steiner, a McMurtry College sophomore, said. “I took a gender and politics class my freshman fall, and it really showcased the big gap between genders in the political landscape … I thought it was a great opportunity to focus on closing that gap here within the Rice community.”

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Ahmad said that IGNITE’s main focus this semester is to increase civic engagement. 

“We want to reach out to pretty much anyone on the Rice campus and be able to connect them with the resources to learn about the field of politics and civic engagement so they can learn about the influence that they can have in the field and be able to go forth and create change in the world,” Ahmad, a Baker College sophomore, said.

IGNITE has helped host two events — a watch party and a block party — for the Nov. 5 election in collaboration with RiceVotes, Civic Duty Rice and the political science department. 

“Over the last few weeks, what we’ve been most focused on is, of course, Election Day on November 5,” Ahmad said. “We’ve been working with a lot of other organizations on campus to put on both the Election Day block party, as well as the watch party.”

Ahmad said that the watch party, held in the Sid Richardson College commons, live streamed the election results. Throughout the night, they had pizza and snacks, activities like trivia, a poll worker appreciation event, photo booth and election bingo. 

Steiner said she’s most excited to engage with the Rice community and see the club’s impact, especially in furthering conversation on gender in politics.

“Our main focus is to have events serve as a platform for our members to communicate with each other and share their own experiences, to not only increase civic engagement but also increase political empowerment amongst them and make sure that everyone is feeling heard and understood,” Steiner said. 

Club treasurer Arrya Abmayr said she hopes that the IGNITE chapter at Rice will provide students with the educational resources and community that will help them engage in politics. 

“I really, really want this club to be about our members so much more than it’s about us,” Abmayr, a Brown College sophomore, said. “I want people to feel connected with their community, with the Houston area, or the Texas area or the US as a whole, and be able to engage politically in issues that they think matter and that matter to them and be able to have all of the information available that they need.” 

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