#WomenToWatch is a series by RepresentWomen that documents rising women leaders and their stories.

In our first installment of #WomenToWatch, we are highlighting the stories of three women who will be on the ballot this Tuesday: Aruna Miller (MD), Connie Johnson (OK), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY).

​Democratic nominee for governor of Maine - Janet Mills

Mayor Muriel Bowser at Town Danceboutique, Darrow Montgomery/Washington City Paper

On Tuesday, June 19th, D.C. held primary elections for mayor, city council, and non-voting delegate to the U.S. House. In the reliably Democratic District, the primary invariably determines the outcome of the general election. The most exciting race was not the actual election, but rather a ballot initiative extending D.C.’s $15 minimum wage to tipped workers, which passed by 55 percent approval. The primary elections for executive office and city council, in which all incumbents won their bid at re-election, shed light on gender and racial representation in the District’s government.

Members of the EU Women Caucus

An April 2018 study titled “Women and corruption: What positions must they hold to make a difference?” found that corruption is lower in countries with more women in office at both the national and local level. The authors suggest that this is because women legislators often champion policies that address poverty, education, and healthcare at a greater rate than men, and have been found to be “more concerned about whether subsidies were provided to the targeted group without corruption.”

Image source- Gavel Gap

While there has been much media coverage on gender disparity in the legislative branch, there is little attention being paid to the lack of representation of women and people of color in the judicial branch. Less than one-third of state judges are women, even while women make up more than one-half of the U.S. population. People of color make up about 40% of the population, but account for less than 20 percent of state judges. At the federal level, only 36 percent of United States trial court judges are women and only 10.5 percent of U.S. federal judges are women of color.

RepresentWomen was honored to recently welcome Rosana Schaack, member of the Liberian House of Representatives, to our offices. She shared her experiences working in a male-dominated government and the challenges she and other Liberian women face as they work towards gender parity in the legislature. In Liberia’s most recent election for the national legislature,  146 women ran  but just four women challengers won seats. Currently, there are only 11 female legislators out of 103 total in the Legislature of Liberia, with nine women in the House and two in the Senate.

 Virginia Democrat Jennifer Wexton, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (left) and Sen. Tim Kaine(right) speaks at her 10th District primary night party in Sterling, Va., on Tuesday June 12th, 2018. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

By Kendrik Icenhour & Katie Pruitt

Women candidates won big on Tuesday June 12th, as Virginia, South Carolina, Maine, Nevada, and North Dakota held their primary elections for state and national offices.

Virginia continued the trend started in the state’s 2017 general election trend, where voters elected an historic number of women to the House of Delegates, by electing women in droves. On Tuesday night, six out of the 16 winners in congressional primaries were women (5 Democrats, 2 Republicans); in every district that a woman ran, a woman won.

My name is Evelien van Gelderen and I am a rising sophomore at Swarthmore College located in Swarthmore, Penn. Though I have yet to declare a major, I’m considering economics and biology. However, I’m also interested in policy and politics. My family has always been engaged in the news, and growing up, dinner conversation was often centered around social issues and recent news events.

In the eighth grade, my civics teacher tasked me with writing and delivering a speech on what my ideal American president would be like. Standing up in front of my class, I declared that my preferred president would be a woman. A male classmate criticized my speech because he believed that gender was irrelevant to whether someone can be an effective president. His comment upset me. Gender may not have been relevant to him but it sure was relevant to me. The state that I’m from, Virginia, has never elected a governor or a senator who was not a heterosexual man. Women are 51% of the U.S. population, yet they make up only 19.8% of Congress and 25% of state legislatures. Gender was important to me because I wanted a role model.