Preet Didbal has covered quite a distance while following her dream – from an immigrant farmer’s daughter to a mayor in the US.
Didbal has been sworn in the position of Mayor of her hometown Yuba City, California, on 5 of December, 2017 becoming the first ever Sikh woman mayor in US history. She told Huffington Post, “During my term, I plan to use the platform to uplift women from a variety of backgrounds.”
She has been serving the city as a member of the City Council since 2014 and recently as Vice Mayor. Her contribution to women’s empowerment and public health, regular public forums to address safety gained her recognition in the city.
Her parents came to the city about 50 years ago and took jobs in the agricultural industry. Being the daughter of an immigrant farmer, Preet did feel secluded in her early age. She said, “As a girl growing up and then as a young woman, I always felt like a second-class citizen. It was always ‘you’re a girl, you can’t do that.”
She is the first from her family to go to college.
Didbal survived rape at the age of 19. She strongly supported this year’s #MeToo campaign that got women to speak about sexual assault in public. As a mother of an 18-year-old feels it’s very important to break stigmas attached to sexual assault survivors and treatment.
“We women who have been assaulted, we live in fear and we live in shame for many years. It takes a lot to talk about it, let alone on a huge platform. The women who are dealing with these types of concerns or the ones who are going through it now ― you have to know that there’s strength within you, and you have to reach out,” said Didbal.
In 2015, she was honored at California’s Third Congressional District with Women Of The Year Awards, which recognizes outstanding women in the community.
H/T: Huffington Post