Women make up 51% of the population but are dramatically underrepresented in political leadership.

IGNITE is an NGO that wants to build political ambition when girls and young women are forming their identities and aspirations and to forestall the fact that, without significant intervention, the United States won’t reach gender parity for at least another century.

2018 lived up to its “Year of the Woman” moniker. With all the votes in, a record number of 117 women were ultimately sent to Congress this cycle. But even given the unprecedented year for gender equality in U.S. politics, women still only make up 23% of the House of Representatives.

According to a survey of college students by Ms. Lawless and Mr. Fox, men were twice as likely to say they would be qualified to run for office, after graduating and working for a while, while women were 20 percentage points more likely to say they would not be.

We need to show young women that they have what it takes to lead. To help them see themselves in the House of Representatives.

Since the beginning, society has told women that they belong at home, instead of in positions of power. It’s not rare to listen to “women should stay in the house,” “women are homemakers,” etc. Through an inspiring anthem and a custom interactive website, we turned that sexism on its head, showing girls that they do belong in the house...of Representatives.

One reason why there are so few women in politics is because girls don’t believe they have the right qualifications.

The elections for the 116th Congress led to meaningful increases in diversity, especially among women. For example, this election saw the first two Native American women elected to Congress as well as the first two Muslim women.

We seized the momentum as the perfect opportunity to help a wide range of girls and young women envision themselves in the House of Representatives.

We built a custom interactive website, combining the data of the 117 women elected so young women could see the three Congresswomen they were most similar to. The results were based on the things that make them unique: where they are from, heritage, sexuality, their beliefs, political orientation, level of education, marital status, parents’ marital status, veteran status, wealth, ethnicity, age, childhood economic background, and even personality traits.

THE MUSIC VIDEO:

Powerhouse musicians Victoria Canal (Republican pop singer) and Blimes Brixton (Democratic hip-hop artist) worked from coast to coast to collaborate on the music and lyrics for the anthemic track. The accompanying music video uses bright, powerful animation to celebrate the progress that a diverse group of women has made so far and inspire a new generation to keep making history.

THE WEBSITE:

The music video drove to a website, where the data of over 117 Congresswomen was combined to help young women identify themselves with current representatives, based on their own lives: their upbringing, background, values, personality, and more. Results revealed the three congresswomen they most closely match with and engaged them with customized calls to action on how to get involved, based on their unique strengths. A custom image, showing each person’s “Political DNA” results, was created in the same bold, colorful style, designed for sharing across social

Over 80,000 website visits in the first week.

Over 40,000 quizzes completed in the first week.

Over 1.4MM Twitter impressions.

An average of 10 minutes spent per website visit.

The story was picked up by media like The Atlantic, MTV, and SheKnows, among others.