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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation August 14, 2020

By Cynthia Richie Terrell on August 14, 2020

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Sen. Kamala Harris after being introduced by presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as his running mate in Wilmington, Delaware., on August 12, 2020 - Toni Sandys / The Washington Post via Getty Images

 

Dear fans of women's representation,
Until this week, four women - Lucretia Mott (1848), Tonie Nathan (1972), Geraldine Ferraro (1984) & Sarah Palin (2008) - had been selected as vice presidential running mates. Former Vice President Joe Biden's selection of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate brings that number to five and has led to a number of very interesting articles and news stories about this milestone in the annals of women's history and leadership.

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation August 7, 2020

By Cynthia Richie Terrell on August 07, 2020

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2020 Booker Prize nominees from the Booker Prize website
Dear women's representation team members,
You can read a sharper-looking version of this missive on Ms Magazine.
Normalizing women's power and leadership can take many forms -- my favorite example from this week is the number of women authors selected as finalists for the coveted 2020 Booker Prize. According to this story in Vulture, nine of the 13 nominees - selected from a pool of 162 - are women:

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation July 31, 2020

By Cynthia Richie Terrell on July 31, 2020

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Government News
Dear fans of women's representation,
As a reminder, if you would like to read a nicely laid out version of this blog you can hop to Ms Magazine though there are always a few extra stories that don't make it in by the Ms deadline!
The countdown to the big election continues and there is a lot going on in U.S. politics but this story by Judy Skatssoon in Government News about a campaign in Australia by male CEOs to advance women's representation at the local government level offers a model for the kind of conversation - and action - that must happen to make serious & enduring progress toward gender parity:

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation July 24, 2020

By Cynthia Richie Terrell on July 24, 2020

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Cover of the August issue of National Geographic celebrating the suffrage centennial
Dear fans of women's representation,
July 24th marks the 100th anniversary of women's equality champion Bella Abzug's birth and marks the midway point of the suffrage centennial. The August issue of National Geographic Magazine pays tribute to the many women like Abzug who have shaped and continue to shape the conversation about women's rights and representation. Sadly the content is behind a paywall but here is a snippet from the long and rich piece written by Rachel Hartigan:

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation July 17, 2020

By Cynthia Richie Terrell on July 17, 2020

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Suffragists Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Ida B Wells painted by Melanie Humble

Dear fans of women's representation,

This week marks several milestones in the long struggle for women's equality: on July 14, 1917 sixteen women from the National Women's Party were arrested while picketing at the White House in favor of universal suffrage; July 16th marked the birthday of  suffragist Ida B Wells who was born in 1862; noted Quaker author Jessamyn West was born on July 18, 1902; and the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention was held July 19-20, 1848. I have been thinking about the tenacity and creativity of the women's rights advocates who came before us and wondering how future generations will judge us? Will our daughters' daughters adore us as the lyrics promise in Mary Poppins? I sure hope so...

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation July 10, 2020

By NationBuilder Support on July 10, 2020

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Photo courtesy of Gender Avenger Christina Morillo, via Pexels (cropped)
Dear women's representation enthusiasts,
News of Supreme Court decisions and the sweltering heat of Washington, DC are hard to avoid but there have also been some developments related to women's representation that caught my eye this week. I was very glad to see that Gina Glantz and the team at Gender Avenger have updated their tool to track the representation of women on panels and more with a new setting that tracks women of color. Here is an excerpt from the blog about the launch:

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation July 2, 2020

By NationBuilder Support on July 02, 2020

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Getty Images: 116th Congress
Dear women's representation enthusiasts,
There were several key primaries this week with fascinating wins and losses for women candidates along with a number of landmark Supreme Court decisions that will dominate the headlines for weeks to come. In the midst of all this news I was very glad to read the latest report from Sarah Bryner from the Center for Responsive Politics who writes about the likely composition of the 117th Congress. While there have been a number of stories about the number of women running, Sarah's report examines the prospects for these women to actually win. It's so important to remember that the power of incumbency, the challenges of raising money, and our antiquated electoral system fortify the status quo:

 

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation June 26, 2020

By NationBuilder Support on June 26, 2020

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Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, candidate for the NY state assembly
Dear women's representation enthusiasts,
It's been an eventful week in the world of women's representation with some great wins for women candidates in primaries held this week - including RepresentWomen board member Jenifer Rajkumar who will most likely win her primary for the NY state assembly along with ReflectUS ally Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas who maintains her lead as absentee votes are counted according to this story by Ese Olumhense and Christine Chung in The City:

Jessica González-Rojas, former executive director of the National Latina Institute, heads the five-way race for the 34th Assembly District in Jackson Heights and Woodside, with 12-year incumbent Michael DenDekker trailing by 16 percentage points.

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation June 19, 2020

By NationBuilder Support on June 19, 2020

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Dear women's representation enthusiasts,
The countdown to the Seneca Falls Revisited virtual conference celebrating the centennial of suffrage continues this week with blogs by Maura Reilly about the speakers - see below - and about Juneteenth which celebrates the official end of slavery in the United States. Maura writes in her blog this week:

On June 19th 1865, Major General Gordon Granger led Union soldiers into Galveston Texas and brought with him the news of the end of the Civil War and the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. Two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation and formally ended slavery in the United States, the legal end of slavery was finally upheld across the country. A year following Granger’s proclamation, the anniversary of what had become known as Juneteenth took place for the first time. The Juneteenth celebration which focused on the community of the formerly enslaved peoples in Texas continued to spread and grow over the following years.

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