At present, our country needs women's idealism and

The words of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, are both a trumpet and a prayer: “At present, our country needs women’s idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.” With this saying, she summons forth the power of women, not as a gentle ornament to the public sphere, but as a force of renewal, courage, and vision. She declares that the survival of the nation demands not only laws and armies, but the infusion of idealism and determination—qualities that women have long carried through centuries of endurance.

The ancients knew that when a people falter, new strength must be sought. In the myths of Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy, we see how the feminine spirit was revered as the source of clarity in times of chaos. Chisholm takes this eternal truth and plants it in her own age: that when politics grows stagnant or corrupted, it is the voice of women, long silenced, that can restore vigor and principle. For politics, if it serves only ambition and not ideals, becomes a hollow shell.

Consider the life of Chisholm herself. When she entered Congress in 1968, she did so not as one invited, but as one who seized her place. Known as “Unbought and Unbossed,” she refused to bow to party machines or the expectations of men. She fought for education, for the poor, for women, for minorities, carrying with her the very determination she spoke of. And when she ran for President in 1972, though victory eluded her, her courage shattered barriers and carved a path for generations to follow.

Her words also rebuke the notion that women’s gifts belong only in the home. She proclaims that the nation itself is a kind of household, and that without women’s insight, compassion, and resilience, its governance falters. Just as mothers, sisters, and daughters have held families together in times of hardship, so too must their strength hold the republic together in its trials. Their idealism is not naïve—it is the vision that lifts politics above selfish quarrel, and their determination is the steel that ensures progress is not abandoned.

Let the generations remember: the renewal of nations comes when all voices are heard, and when the strength of women is not kept at the margins but placed at the center. Shirley Chisholm speaks as both prophet and pioneer, reminding us that the fate of the people rests not only on the shoulders of men, but equally on the unyielding resolve of women. For when women rise in politics, they bring with them not only themselves, but the promise of justice, compassion, and unbreakable hope.