Women locally and nationally have been protesting the Trump administration by marching and attending town hall meetings. To change policy, Marya Stark will challenge Connecticut women to run for office.

According to Stark, the greatest hurdle for women in achieving parity in politics is not in the number of votes they get or their level of fundraising. It’s overcoming the political ambition gap. Sponsored by the WomanPower Action Network, the speaker is a co-founder of EmergeAmerica, an organization dedicated to encouraging and supporting Democratic women to run for elective office.

The program will take place on Sunday, March 12, at 11:30 a.m., in the Youth & Community Center at Saint Luke’s Parish, 1864 Post Road, Darien. The public is invited.

Despite making major gains in business, education and many other areas, American women are still vastly underrepresented at all levels of government. Women are more than half the population, but hold less than a third of elected offices. The United States currently ranks 100th in the world in the number of women serving in their national legislatures. Women are behind Mexico, China and Pakistan.

For example: Only 37 women have ever served as governor across the United States. Only 27 states have ever had a woman governor. Women make up just 19.4% of the U.S. Congress and 24.8% of state legislatures. Women make up only 18.8% of mayors in cities with more than 30,000 population.

Emerge gives Democratic women who want to run for public office a unique opportunity with an in-depth, seven-month, 70-hour, training program that provides aspiring female leaders with cutting-edge tools and training to run for elected office and elevate themselves in our political system. Emerge currently works in 17 states and the Connecticut chapter of Emerge is now forming. More information: www.emergeamerica.org