Last week I wrote to you from northern California and I am still in California! It has been a busy week of racing around the Bay Area for terrific meetings with allies & reformers. A number of you wrote last week that you would like to get plugged into the systems reform work - my goal for 2019 is to make that happen! Stay tuned for more on that!

Good afternoon my friends,

I thought I would post just a few stories this week as I know many of us in the United States may be busy with family or with travel or be taking a break from the constant pull of the news cycle and our work for equality.

For the latest update on wins and losses for women candidates please listen to this interview, which is part of the Governing podcast series, with the uber-knowledgeable Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics.

Dear friends,

This week's missive will be short and sweet as I know we are all inundated with information and news!

There were indeed a lot of new faces and MANY 'firsts' elected to Congress and state houses this week with votes in some states still being tallied - that's the great news, but republican women's representation fell in Congress and that will remain a challenge for the short term at least. The National Conference of State Legislatures and the Center for American Women and Politics have of course done a great job tracking the results and here is where things stand at the moment:

• 9 women will serve as governors 6D, 3R
• 22 women serve in the U.S. Senate 16D, 6R
• 101 women will serve in the U.S. House of Representatives 88D, 13R
• US now ranks 75th among nations - tied with Bulgaria - in 1998 US ranked 60th

Dear friends and allies,

Before the final frenzy of GOTV and the inevitable coverage of close wins and losses and the discussion of what it all means for our democracy, I wanted to take a moment to thank all the terrific candidates and the groups and individuals who have helped them make this year a milestone for women candidates.

Thank you.

Thanks to the candidates, thanks to all of you who have supported the candidates, thanks to the many organizations who have identified & guided the candidates, thanks to all the donors who have helped to make their campaigns viable, and thanks to all those who have supported their wives/mothers/daughters/sisters as they run for office.

(former Ambassador now president of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde)

Dear women's representation community members,

AfricaNews reported this week on the selection of Ambassador Sahle-Work Zewde as Ethiopia's first woman president:          

The influential Addis Standard cited top government officials as confirming that Ambassador Sahle-Work Zewde, a top official with the United Nations, UN, was due to be Mulatu’s replacement.

Zewde was until recently, the UN Director General at its offices in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. She is currently the Special representative of the UN Secretary-General to the African Union, AU.

Sahle-work has a rich ambassadorial track record having served as Ethiopian ambassador to several countries previously. Her resignation from the UN role this week is said to be to allow her take the new position of president.

She is all set to be the first woman president of Ethiopia, but only after the joint session of the two legislative houses vote her to the role tomorrow. The vote is seen as a mere formality.

Dear friends,

I have had mixed feedback on whether to include full articles or just snippets with strong feelings on both sides of the question but this week I am going to try the path of shorter links so that you are not overwhelmed by text!

Carly Fiorina, GOP candidate for president during the 2016 primary season, had a very compelling piece in the Washington Post today. I hope that you will read the entire piece but here is a snippet:

Dear friends,

Heather Wolf shared this article by Susan Chira from The New York Times that is a very important read:

Dear friends

There was a heartfelt piece on Fast Company by candidate Caitlin Clarkson Pereira about the need for news rules around how to pay for childcare while running for office - this is a terrific example of a systems reform that is necessary to level the playing field for women in politics: