Dear all,

One hundred year ago, suffragists - who were nearly all Republicans (including my Quaker ancestors) - were on the brink of winning the franchise. Soon thereafter, emboldened by their success with suffrage, Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman wrote the first Equal Rights Amendment which was introduced in Congress in 1923. Despite opposition from human rights stalwarts like Eleanor Roosevelt, support for a modern ERA grew through the 1960s & 1970s until it was a standard plank in party platforms of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Representative Martha Griffiths - the first woman elected to Congress from Michigan - re-introduced the ERA in Congress in 1971 where it was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on October 12, 1971 and by the U.S. Senate on March 22, 1972.

After passage in Congress it was sent to the states for ratification which triggered an intense period of organizing led by Molly Yard, Ellie Smeal, Gloria Steinem and many others to ensure passage.

Dear women's representation enthusiasts,

There are now 26 women in the United States Senate following the swearing in this week of Kelly Loeffler from Georgia - this is the highest number of women to serve in the U.S. Senate - ever - according to this story from Politico:

Republican Kelly Loeffler was formally sworn in Monday as the newest senator from Georgia, replacing retired Sen. Johnny Isakson and becoming only the second woman to represent the state in the Senate.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tapped Loeffler, a wealthy finance executive, to replace Isakson in December, despite questions about her conservative credentials and a push from President Donald Trump to instead nominate Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) — a strong ally on the Hill.

(women leaders from the Elle piece mentioned below)

Dear fans of women's representation,

Happy 2020. It's a big year for many reasons. It's of course the centennial of the 19th amendment that granted most women the right to vote. It's the sesquicentennial of the 15th amendment that granted men of color the right to vote. It's an election year in the United States. And it's a year that demands we come together with people around the globe to pass legislation and enact laws that protect our environment, advance women's representation, nurture diplomacy, and address the economic, educational and health needs of everyone - no exceptions. Our individual and collaborative work is essential.

Here are a couple articles that caught my attention this week.

Dear all,

This has been a big week of news from Capitol Hill but I am going to steer clear of that topic as I suspect there is a variety of opinion on the matter among all of you interesting, passionate, and committed people!

I will report though, that we hosted students this morning from the Capital City Public Charter School who chose RepresentWomen as the recipient of their decorated-by-hand cookies. We had a lively exchange about the need for airports named for women, the rank of the United States among nations for women's representation, voting at 16, and the number of women in office. It was a total joy to listen to their answers to my many questions - I felt almost like Scrooge at the end of the Christmas Carol when he is so enthusiastic to find he is alive after a night of ghostly visitations that he almost overwhelms the young boy he commissions to help him buy gifts for others! I can't think of a better motivation for the work we all do than these children. I hope that you can feel the power of their potential that I experienced today.

Hello all!

There is a lot of fun news to share this week but I am very tight on time so I will only share the highlights!

I suspect you all have read of the exciting news from Finland about the new women in leadership - which brings the number of women heads of states up to 13 (out of approx 195 countries)...still some work to do but great news nonetheless! There is a good piece in Forbes and another on Vox that are worth reading along with a great read from RepresentWomen's Maura Reilly Lucky 13: Sanna Marin Named Prime Minister of Finland and Increases the Number of Women Heads of Government by One:

Dear friends, 

This week the RepresentWomen team was very glad to attend the networking reception for the Community Solutions Program fellows who have been working in the U.S. for the last 4 months. We are very sad though to say goodbye to Amna Durrani whom we were so lucky to have working with us at RepresentWomen. Amna has served on the Commission on the Status of Women in Pakistan and created an incredible spreadsheet of all commissions and ministries dedicated to women's affairs in countries around the world. Amna is also helping us to build a platform for women's representation advocates from around the world to share best practices and support one another. While we are sad to say goodbye we are grateful for her work and look forward to visiting her in Pakistan soon!

Dear friends,

Thanksgiving dinner in 2018 featured Arabia china my mother brought back from Finland where she helped Finns rebuild their homes right after World War II, rolls, blueberry & pecan pie, and cranberries - some of which I grew in my very own garden.

I always feel conflicted about this holiday - I love spending time with family & friends and making time to reflect on things for which we are grateful, but I am also mindful of the troubling narrative around the early settlers - many of whom were my ancestors.

My father, Huntington Terrell, was a philosopher and an ethicist with a deep sense of our collective and individual moral obligation to others. He wrote this prayer for our interfaith Sunday school that thrived in rural upstate New York in the 1950s and 60s - here is the prayer in my mother's handwriting:

Dear friends,

This week's news was filled with the release of big reports from allies and elections results from contests around the country - a quick look at the reports:

Our friends at the Barbara Lee Family Foundation released a terrific report this week entitled Ready, Willing, and Electable: Women Running for Executive Office - the study, conducted jointly by Voto Latino, Higher Heights, APIA Vote, APAICS, the Victory Institute, CAWP, and Lake Research Partners, explores attitudes toward women candidates from a variety of demographic groups. Nicole Carlsburg, Executive director of the BLFF introduces the report on Gender on the Ballot which I recommend as a great source of news:

2018 was heralded as a “Year of the Woman,” with a record number of women elected to Congress and many historic firsts for individual women candidates. One record we didn’t break: the number of women serving as governor of their state. The number of women who are governor today ties a previous high first set in 2004 – before the iPhone came out, before Twitter was founded, and before Netflix launched its streaming service. So much has changed since 2004, so why aren’t we seeing progress with electing women governors?

My dear friends,

In the midst of my busy days last week I forgot to celebrate the anniversary of the day in October, 1975 when over 90% of Icelandic women went on strike and refused to work. I love to imagine their camaraderie and passion for women's equality which drove them into the streets - as this story in Jacobin Magazine recounts - and triggered a transformation in the role that women play in politics and in business in Iceland. While there is still much work to be done in Iceland and around the world, I will join anyone who would like to try this approach in the US - just tell me where and when to meet:

"Women are waking up. They know that men have ruled the world since time immemorial. And how has that world been?” These words were first spoken by Aðalheiður Bjarnfreðsdóttir, a fifty-four-year-old domestic worker, on an unusually warm and dry afternoon in fall 1975. Her audience, in her speech in Reykjavík’s main square, included 25,000 women from all walks of life. They, along with 90 percent of Iceland’s female population, had refused to show up for work that day, in order to demonstrate how much they contributed to the country’s economy. It made no difference whether their work took place in a school, factory, office, or home. They were determined to show that they mattered.