Empowered Women, Stronger Communities: A Legacy of Leadership

"Old age is not a defeat, but a victory, not a punishment, but a privilege." - Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, Founder of AARP

During Women's History Month, we recognize AARP's founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus and how her dedication to help older Americans helped pave the way for women to gain a voice and show their perseverance. Since Dr. Andrus founded AARP in 1958, the Association has provided older Americans a collective voice advocating for pension reform, affordable healthcare, improved housing, and an end to age discrimination. At AARP, we continue to honor and build from Dr. Andrus' legacy by fighting for each individual to live their best life.

This year, we are spotlighting powerful women in New York State government and on our staff!

Legislative Spotlights

Women's History Month is a time to honor the incredible impact of women in leadership roles within New York State government. By uplifting women and working together, they create better lives for all, including those ages 50 and over, helping to ensure that their needs and voices are heard and addressed.

New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes

• Based on your personal journey, who is a woman that inspires you and what impact did they have?

My mother, Clara M. Davis came to Buffalo from a sharecropping family in rural Georgia. She was one of 13 siblings and the only one to attend college. With an Associate degree in hand, she married, had five children and worked multiple jobs. My mother not only completed her undergraduate work, but by the time I graduated high school, she was receiving her MS in education.

I stand on the shoulders of many strong women, from Barbara Johnson to Harriet Tubman to Fannie Lou Hamer to Shirley Chisholm. But my mother is the source of my strength.

• What challenges are women facing today, and how can we support and uplift them in the world of aging?

In this political climate it seems like women are constantly under attack. We must continue to support the systems that uplift women. Supporting women’s right to bodily autonomy, eliminating the gender wage gap, supporting women-owned businesses, housing, education. These are just a few of the issues we are focused on.

• What unique perspectives do you believe women bring to government leadership?

I think women bring a thoughtful approach to government leadership. We’re mothers, aunties, sisters, wives. Some of us are even grandmothers. We understand community because we are community leaders in our districts and in our neighborhoods.

New York State Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Pamela Hunter

• Based on your personal journey, who is a woman that inspires you and what impact did they have?  

Shirley Chisholm has been a profound source of inspiration on my personal journey. As a Black woman elected official in the State of New York, I often look to the trail she blazed for both guidance and motivation. Her courage to run for the highest office in the land at a time when it was nearly unimaginable for a woman—let alone a person of color—to do so is a testament to her fearless spirit and unwavering commitment to change. What inspires me most is her strict adherence to her principles, her unshakable moral compass, and her refusal to be influenced by outside pressures. She was truly "unbought and unbossed," standing as a beacon of integrity and resilience.

• What challenges are women facing today, and how can we support and uplift them in the world of aging?  

Women, particularly as they age, face challenges such as economic insecurity, healthcare disparities, and societal expectations that often overlook their contributions and needs. Many older women have spent their lives as caregivers, frequently at the expense of their own financial and personal well-being. To support and uplift them, we must advocate for policies that ensure economic stability, access to quality healthcare, and social programs that foster independence and community engagement. Creating intergenerational support networks, amplifying their voices in leadership, and ensuring that aging women are valued and included in decision-making processes are essential steps toward a more equitable future.

• What unique perspectives do you believe women bring to government leadership?  

Women bring a unique and essential perspective to government leadership, often emphasizing collaboration, inclusivity, and a deep commitment to addressing the needs of all communities. I try to incorporate this in my own leadership style—I prioritize working together with my team to find solutions, ensuring that diverse voices are heard, and treating people with dignity and respect. I have found that women leaders tend to approach challenges with a focus on consensus-building and long-term impact, understanding that sustainable change comes from engaging with and listening to those directly affected. By fostering open dialogue and making space for varying perspectives, we create policies that are more thoughtful, equitable, and effective for everyone.

New York State Assembly Aging Chair Rebecca Seawright

• Based on your personal journey, who is a woman that inspires you and what impact did they have?

As the first woman to serve my district, I have a few lodestars: Eleanor Roosevelt, Edie Windsor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And when you enter our Community Office in Yorkville, the first thing you see is a candid photo of Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm together. Collaborating. Strategizing. These two singular New Yorkers – and CUNY alums, like me! —catalyzed the feminist and civil rights movements. Their fearlessness, often being the only woman--and in Chisholm’s case, the only Black person—in the room inspired and impacted my worldview on equality and social justice. And the way they shifted the paradigm on women and political power was deeply influential when I first began my public service and advocacy.

Now, as a member of the Assembly, I’m still benefiting from the leadership values they embodied. For instance, in the seven year battle from when I first sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment to its overwhelming enactment by voters, I was fortified by “Battling Bella’s” tenacity and guided by Chisholm’s principled insistence on coalition building. Their examples continue to be our rallying cry, particularly as we face down the greatest challenge to our civil liberties in generations.

It’s only fitting that their images—an emphatic embodiment of “We’re not going back!” -- take pride of place in our community office.

• What challenges are women facing today, and how can we support and uplift them in the world of aging?

It is a moment of unprecedented, national peril. We’ve seen the reversal of reproductive rights, the upending of constitutional principles on shared governance and civil liberties, and the erasure of marginalized communities in official narratives. As ever thus, women bear the brunt. The active duty servicewoman stripped of critical health benefits. The immigrant wife or mother torn from her spouse or child after an illegal deportation. The health care provider unjustly indicted in a hostile state.

To protect our most vulnerable neighbors and preserve the foundational values of justice and equality that animate our city and state, I couldn’t have been more proud to be lead sponsor of an LGBT awareness curriculum, to co-sponsor a reproductive rights protection law, and to support Governor Hochul’s legislation ensuring New York remains a reproductive rights safe haven.

In the world of aging, women are faced with unsustainable costs of living and are increasingly unable to attain aging in place, unable to keep pace with technology, and left vulnerable to elder fraud. Too many are socially isolated. Whether it is introducing an elder fraud bill, to establish fraud protection mechanisms; a Senior Housing Freedom of Choice Act or a bill to enact an Aging in Place Task Force, I will never stop fighting alongside the AARP to protect aging New Yorkers and the quality of life that they have earned.

• What unique perspectives do you believe women bring to government leadership?

Shirley Chisholm pointed out that “medical technology is keeping women alive longer, but society is not planning for the growing elderly population.” Thus, she exhorted more women to seek elected office and set policies for the elderly because “until we have more women in policy-making roles, we're not going to act as quickly in solving the problems of people in the twilight age.”

She made those remarks in the mid-1980s, a testament to her prescient vision and the gravity of our collective failure to care for older adults. Nearly 40 years later, these are the identical issues I confront as Chair of the Aging Committee: Older New Yorkers are increasingly rent- and healthcare expense-burdened. One-third of them are living with disabilities. As a state and as a society, we still lack the service infrastructure that older adults deserve. Shirley Chisholm also highlighted the perspectives that women bring to lawmaking. These include a lived, historical knowledge: of being valued less than a man; of inequities in health care and pay; and of being denied recognition in their state, and nation’s, constitutions.

Traditionally, women have been the caregivers. Traditionally, we have overseen the cohesion of the family, ensuring that it weathers all storms, and stays together. Hard-earned perspectives that have never been more critical during this national moment in time.

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams

• Based on your personal journey, who is a woman that inspires you and what impact did they have?

One of my personal heroes is Shirley Chisholm. The first Black woman elected to U.S. Congress and to run for President of the United States on a major party line, Congresswoman Chisholm paved the way for me to become the first Black Speaker of the New York City Council. Her pioneering leadership and legacy have inspired so many people, and especially Black women and other women of color, to get involved in their communities through public service. Throughout her life, she championed equitable educational and economic opportunities for all that have made a lasting impact on all our lives. Congresswoman Chisholm was unflinching in the face of bigotry and uncompromising on her ideals, inspiring us to continue the work towards securing the more equitable and just world we know is possible.

• What challenges are women facing today, and how can we support and uplift them in the world of aging?

Women continue to face systemic challenges, including barriers to equitable pay, economic opportunity, and access to quality healthcare. These issues compound over time, leaving many older women to navigate financial insecurity, instability, and other concerns without the support they need. To adequately support women, we must prioritize policies and investments that promote our physical, mental, and financial health. Our city’s sustained focus must include expanding economic opportunities for women at all stages of their careers, strengthening access to affordable housing, and addressing disparities that hinder success. For everything that older women in our communities have done for us, it’s the least we can do to ensure they are able to age with dignity and lead safe and independent lives.

• What unique perspectives do you believe women bring to government leadership?

Our historic, women-majority City Council has been intentional about centering the health, safety, and well-being of women in our work. This has meant that issues that have long been overlooked – particularly those impacting Black women and other women of color – are now taking their rightful place as top priorities.

We have passed multiple bill packages to expand physical and mental health supports for our mothers, including the establishment of a program to train and provide doula services in marginalized neighborhoods at no cost. Last October, I declared the maternal mortality crisis and its severe racial disparities in New York City a public health emergency, and convened a Maternal Health Steering Committee of stakeholders across all sectors dedicated to working together to ensure all mothers receive the care they deserve.

To increase educational and economic opportunities, the Council championed the CUNY Reconnect initiative to re-enroll working-age New Yorkers, which has now surpassed the milestone of over 47,000 students re-enrolling in college to finish their degrees – the majority of whom are women and people of color.

We have also increased support for survivors of crime and violence by funding the creation of New York State’s first trauma recovery centers in New York City, located in neighborhoods that experience violence at the highest rates.

Our women-majority Council will continue to tackle the persistent inequities facing New Yorkers with the urgency and empathy that our communities deserve.

AARP New York Staff Spotlights

This year, we are highlighting women from our New York State team who embody the ideals our founder had and work to achieve our mission every day. We are also spotlighting elected leaders who have made great strides in their communities and work to make New York a better place to age.

We asked our staff:

• Who is a woman that inspires you, and what impact did they have on their community? 
• What issues are women facing today and how can we uplift them in the world of aging? 

Here’s what they said:

Beth Finkel – State Director

Beth leads the development and delivery of the organization’s community programs, advocacy, and information for its over 2.2 million members age 50+ across the state.

Watch her video here.

Kristen McManus - Senior Associate State Director, Advocacy

Kristen is on the front lines of advocacy work that improves the lives of people 50 and older across the state. She works on issues including caregiving, making prescription drugs more affordable and protecting older New Yorkers from financial exploitation.

Watch her video here.

Maggie Castro - Senior Associate State Director - Community Outreach & Engagement

Maggie leverages her deep understanding of the Hispanic/Latino community to drive advocacy and outreach initiatives that create positive social change and empower individuals and communities.

Watch her video here.

Kemba Tamar - Associate State Director - Volunteer Engagement

Kemba forges meaningful connections with the volunteers she works with daily, providing them with the tools and knowledge to remain active and engaged in their personal lives and communities.

Watch her video here.


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