TimesUnion interviews former Member of the New York State Senate, Cecilia Tkaczyk, on the topic of women in politics. Access the original interview here.

What brought you into politics?

In 2012 I was on the Duanesburg school board and we were getting decimated by spending cuts. I met with Sen. Hugh Farley and (then assemblyman) George Amedore. I said, "I'm worried we're going to lose kindergarten," and Farley said, "You're not going to lose kindergarten." I said, "Why not, it's not mandated?" And he said, "It's not?" I knew then that we didn't have anyone to help us. Then, a new district was created that they were going to hand to George Amedore. We didn't need a new senate district. It cut across five counties and through all these school districts that were in the same position we were. Our district wasn't getting the representation it needed. I thought, what do I have to lose? I had no money, I was already not a legislator so if I lost, it wouldn't be terrible. I knew I had to run.

What was challenging about running for office? Was anything particularly challenging because you were a woman?

It was brutal because I was running against a Republican whose party was going to give him all the money he needed. The fact I was a woman made it harder to be taken seriously — you're going up against this machine. I grew up on a dairy farm. My parents had five kids so they could have five workers. I was not afraid to work hard, it was getting people to take me seriously.

Do you think you approach public service differently as a woman?

We're not on a level playing field to begin with, we don't have as much money, we have kids. No one was going to ask me, it had to be totally up to me. My mother-in-law is in her 80s and when I told her I was going to run, she said, 'men do that.' We had a heated discussion. I said, 'women should run because some of these men are not doing a good job.' When I told my husband, 'I'm going to run for senate. How much money are you going to give me? There was a long pause. He said, 'how much money do you need?' And I said, 'I don't know. A lot."

What do you think about the low numbers of women holding elected office (particularly at higher levels, such as state and federal government)?

Women face discrimination constantly in many fields but especially politics because you're not expected to do it. I encouraged young people, particularly young women, to shadow me. They saw me helping senators prepare for debate and writing legislation, I could envision myself doing the job, because I had been around the Capitol as an advocate for affordable housing. I saw what the work was like. We had an open door policy. If a group of kids came to visit, I knew they didn't want to talk about policy so I would have them sit in my chair. If you can't see yourself doing it, how can you convince others you can do it?

I never stopped running for office, is how it felt. Republicans felt I shouldn't be there and there was a constant, intense feeling they were planning to get me out. People there weren't working with me to get things done. They were willing to hurt their own constituents to prevent my bill from passing. It was bizarre and unfortunate but there was nothing I could do about it.

Will you run again?

I'm having so much fun doing what I'm doing now, I can't see it. I have a small business, CeCe's Wool.

How will Hillary Clinton have an impact on women seeking office?

I hope the expectation women will serve in these positions becomes the norm, and the reaction is not "men do that." You don't get there by yourself — you need people to cheer you on and fundraise. I'm expecting when there's a woman in the White House there will be more women running and we'll see more in legislatures and school boards. We need to have women at the table so we are part of the discussions, and creating the discussions we need to have because we're not there now.

What needs to happen to get more women into office?

Women need to stop waiting to be asked.