Rising Lonestars interviewed Fort Worth City Councilmember Elizabeth Beck to discuss her nomination to the RLS Top 10 in June. Alongside her efforts to add women’s menstrual products to the city’s restrooms, Councilwoman Beck discussed her inspiration for joining local government and her experiences as a female council member.
Transcript-
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Elizabeth Beck
My name is Elizabeth Beck, and I am the councilwoman for City of Fort Worth District 9.
Simon Nichols
Thank you again for being here with me today. So my first question for you is, if you just quickly please describe to me what this resolution will do in the city of Fort Worth and what the inspiration behind it was for you.
Elizabeth Beck
Sure. So this resolution requires the city to provide feminine hygiene products, menstrual products in our public facilities, in the restroom for public facilities. So that way anyone that’s visiting the city for any reason, whether it’s fitness or recreation or library, that they have the essential hygiene products that they need in our restrooms.
Elizabeth Beck
The inspiration was really to two young high school girls. They had started a they’re members of a local high school And they had started an initiative to provide feminine hygiene products in their school.
Elizabeth Beck
And it took off and it went districtwide. So they were able to impact that change. And so they really changed the way that our local school district operates. And there was a news story about it, and it just made so much sense.
Elizabeth Beck
And I thought, Well, why aren’t we doing that here in the city? So we we took the charge on and introduced that resolution to to make sure that the city of Fort Worth does what’s right by our residents.
Simon Nichols
I found that inspiration really fascinating. Could you briefly comment on that reciprocal relationship between constituents and their elected officials drawing ideas from the people in the community?
Elizabeth Beck
Sure. There’s a former mayor of Fort Worth’s, Ken Barr, who once told me no good ideas come from city hall, meaning that, you know, you really should be listening to your constituents. And that’s part of the job, is carrying forward, you know, the issues or the desires of your constituents.
Elizabeth Beck
I think if you are really trying to do this job well, you know, you find those things where you can help advance something by working with constituents or listening to constituents about what they need or what they think the city should be doing.
Simon Nichols
Local government is unfortunately, a realm that has historically been dominated by men. In Fort Worth its a bit different in this respect because I believe your past two mayors have both been women. However, I was wondering if you could just touch on what the experience is like being a woman in local government, on city council, and
Simon Nichols
especially a woman who is advocating for important topics which are outside of potentially outside of the scope of some of your male colleagues.
Elizabeth Beck
Sure. Well, you know, women’s issues are really what got me. Sparked my interest in politics. And in from there, it kind of fanned out to many other issues, but it was without question issues around women’s equality and women’s reproductive justice that really lit the fire in me from a political standpoint.
Elizabeth Beck
So some of that just. It’s important for me to to make sure that I use my position to really elevate women’s issues. And so some might say that providing menstrual products is not a traditional city function. And I think that having that conversation and making it a city function helps us move the needle forward for women in
Elizabeth Beck
an incremental way, but one that is that recognizes who we are and what our experiences. And so I’m really fortunate that my colleagues are, you know, all of the men on council that have children have daughters. So when it comes to issues around equality, not only do I have the mayor support in councilwoman or mayor pro tem Gyna Bivens
Elizabeth Beck
, but, you know, for a lot of these men, it’s personal to them as well because of their you know, their their daughters. It is. Difficult to be a woman elected official in the sense particularly for mothers. And it’s something that I talk about often when people ask about my experience.
Elizabeth Beck
I think for women to be elected to any level of office, whether it’s local, state or federal, particularly mothers, we have to make two sells. And the first one is we have to sell you that we have the ability and the qualifications to do the job.
Elizabeth Beck
And then the second one is that we can do the job and still be a good mother because society really expects none of us. And you see it a lot in campaigns. If you pay attention, you know, men often will tout that their loving father or their family men.
Elizabeth Beck
And no question they are. But the way that society reacts to that is very different. You know, oftentimes that’s enough that statement that says I care or I am is enough for male colleagues, but for female for fellow women.
Elizabeth Beck
We have to show there’s much more doing that’s involved and that’s something that I try to talk about so that people are a little more aware of what that feels like and what that looks like so that we can do the work we need to, to, to role that, that, that, you know, toxic way of thinking out
Elizabeth Beck
of our communities, in our society.
Simon Nichols
You commented on that there might be a public perception that this isn’t doing a lot per say. And one reason that I think a lot of people don’t engage as much as they should with local government is that they don’t necessarily realize how much they do right.
Simon Nichols
People look out for the large headline grabbing actions that are council members and mayors take, but they don’t always pay attention to the smaller quality of life incremental changes that are just as important and time consuming. Do you have any any comments you want to make on what the nature of a job like that is?
Elizabeth Beck
Sure. Well, when I when I’m talking to voters, one thing that I say over and over again is the farther down your ballot, the closer your front door. And so, you know, the presidential elections are sexy. Congressional elections are sexy.
Elizabeth Beck
When you get to the state level, you know, you’ve got some people interested in some not and as you go farther down the ballot. Stats show voter engagement and voter turnout diminishes. And quite frankly, it should be the opposite because the decisions that your city council makes, your school board, may water board.
Elizabeth Beck
Those very local governmental bodies really have much more of a direct impact on on your day to day lives. And so I think having more civic engagement is really important because at the city level, you know, when we whether it’s pothole or your street safe, are they striped in a way that you can see the lane and
Elizabeth Beck
when you’re driving down the street, you don’t ever stop to think, is this street properly maintained? And, you know, unless maybe you hit a big pothole. And so the job is to to never have you think about that because we’re doing it.
Elizabeth Beck
But when it’s not well maintained and you look down and you think, what’s going on? Well, that’s that’s a quality of life issue. That’s a safety issue. You know, are your sidewalks busted up? Is your water clean? Is your trash getting picked up?
Elizabeth Beck
Do we have unsanitary living conditions for our residents? Are you safe? If if you need a police officer or a firefighter, will they get to you in time? And those are all things that the city does. And so it’s if we’re doing our job right, you don’t really ever think about it because it’s working for you.
Elizabeth Beck
And when it doesn’t, it can be really detrimental. And so to that end, I think it is the little things that matter in that I hope that people don’t notice them because that means, you know, that means we are doing our job correctly.