Introduction

Discussion of the existing challenges related to fair access to establish a foundational understanding of the issues we are trying to solve.

Time: 3:00-3:15 pm ET

Early Voting, Vote-by-Mail, and Automatic Voter Registration

A live fireside chat style conversation between three women experts on solutions to existing challenges related to fair ballot access: early voting, vote by mail, and automatic voter registration. Here you will learn about these viable, scalable, and transformative solutions directly from the experts themselves. 

Time: 3:15 - 3:40 pm ET

Upgrading Ballot Access Processes for Candidates

A live fireside chat style conversation between three women experts on reimagining ballot access for candidates as a solution to some of our current challenges related to fair access. Experts themselves will share about their personal experiences, and propose solutions they know will address these issues.

Time: 3:40 - 4:00 pm ET

Take Action Panel

Live panel discussion between three to five “on-the-ground” experts that will share their experience in working to advance early voting, vote by mail, automatic voter registration, and civic technology at the local, state, or national levels. Here audience members will learn about tangible action steps they can take to join us in advancing these viable, scalable, and transformative solutions. 

Time: 4:00 - 4:50 pm ET

This snapshot displays women's political representation in the 38 OECD countries. The columns show which voting system is used, the subcategory of that voting system, and if gender quotas are used. 

infogram_0_fc160681-d95a-4385-ab63-ac355e9a683a2022 OECD - Charthttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?PIUtext/javascript

infogram_0_a19f1e8e-2fd8-4452-b95e-a0c073fa3ea4RCV Ballot Measure - Sample Languagehttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?6Yatext/javascript

This RCV Toolkit is a short guide with tips and tricks to draft ranked choice voting ballot measures. See our 2023 RCV toolkit here!

infogram_0_c9bd6b6c-46ba-487f-8e20-5a74d752f928Multi-Winner Districts Presentationhttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?u7jtext/javascript

This slide deck covers the importance of district design in securing full and fair representation. It also shows where multi-member districts (MMDs) are currently used, their impact on women's representation, and how effective MMDs are when paired with ranked choice voting. 

infogram_0_02d14ad5-03ff-4730-93c5-9432ab0bdda82022 International Data Dashboardhttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?B1Otext/javascript

Our International Voting Systems Dashboard has five tabs:

1. Parliaments and rankings 

This tab shows the structure of government, the rank for women's representation (based on the percentage of women in the lower house), the number of women elected, and the percentages of women in the chambers.

2. Voting systems of parliaments

This tab shows the type of voting system used, along with sub-categories, and the date of the most recent election.

3. Gender quotas

This tab details the types of gender quotas implemented in each chamber of parliament.

4. Heads of state and government

This tab shows the current Heads of State (HoS) and Government (HoG) & their respective genders (F or M), election dates, and titles. This tab also

5. Cabinets

This section shows the number of cabinet members, the number of women in the cabinet, the percentage of women in the cabinet, and the most recent verification date.

The goal of this dashboard is to contextualize the U.S. within the world, show the unique systems used around the globe, and show where women's representation is the highest. 

This dashboard is interactive! Scroll over each country to see the data. 

infogram_0_7acbac9c-2fe8-414a-baea-ff5330a5987b2021 RCV - FRA Handouthttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?2nPtext/javascript

infogram_0_bd82aeca-ccaa-4215-bddf-3b9d972a8d382021 FRA - 9.21 FRA Maps - Stackedhttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?Mwstext/javascript

This map has two tabs: women's representation in the 117th Congress, and potential women's representation in Congress if the Fair Representation Act was passed. The Fair Representation Act would:

1. Create multi-member districts,
2. Implement ranked choice voting for all U.S. House elections, and 
3. Establish an independent redistricting commission.

All of these reforms would contribute to making elections more competitive and achieving more representative outcomes for all. 

infogram_0_20db34d5-5fee-4bca-bb08-70c7af7a6bafParty Rules Mapshttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?3aStext/javascript

infogram_0_255989ed-b862-453a-a431-2aad87961edc2021 - State Party Rules Mapshttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?xcTtext/javascript

RepresentWomen is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that is able to receive tax-deductible donations. We are funded by individuals and foundations from people from across the political spectrum. Our largest donors in recent years have been Pivotal Ventures, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Unite America, and Michelle Mercer & Bruce Golden. We thank them and everyone else who makes our work possible. On this page, find links to recent audits, Form 990s, and an IRS letter on our 501(c)(3) status.

RepresentWomen has received a Platinum Transparency rating from GuideStar and is honored to receive a Top Nonprofit rating from Great Nonprofits.

Audits and 990 Forms

Since 2019, RepresentWomen has had its financial books audited by an independent firm. In addition, we file a “Form 990” with the Internal Revenue Service, as required of all 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. Our audits and Forms 990 extensively describe our financial revenues and expenses. Here are links to our recent audits and the main pages of our Forms 990. 

2021 990 Form 

2019 Audit

2020 audit coming soon

IRS Letter

Here is the IRS letter on our 501(c)(3) status, which was granted in 2018 when our organization was called Representation2020. In 2020, we changed our name to RepresentWomen, so we've also included the letter from the IRS that acknowledges the name change in 2020.

IRS Letter 2018 

Acknowledgement of Name Change 2020

The U.S. Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court is the highest level of the judiciary branch. Out of 115 justices that have served on the court, only six have been women. Four are currently serving: Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Did you know? There is a long history of women being considered for the Supreme Court. Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court (2020) outlines the history of nine women who were considered, dating back to the 1930s. 

Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

infogram_0_307fc1af-684f-4bfd-b14b-d5f74972c4102022 State Supreme Court Gender Maphttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?4JZtext/javascript

This map shows the gender makeup of state supreme courts as of May 2022. Perhaps surprisingly, many states have significant women's judicial representation. Hover over each state with your cursor for details.

Over the coming weeks, we will be transferring our extensive Blog and OpEd library to this new site. Check back for the latest in thought leadership from RepresentWomen!

https://e.infogram.com/fad77bb9-af8c-4e91-b796-945617266905?src=embed2023 GPI History 2014 - 2023858955no0border:none;allowfullscreen

Summary

In August 2013, RepresentWomen launched the Gender Parity Index (GPI) to help researchers and advocates track progress toward gender-balanced governance and identify opportunities for increasing women’s political representation in the U.S. Each year, we assign all 50 states a Gender Parity Score, letter grade, and ranking according to their proximity to parity. One of the key takeaways from this exercise is that progress toward gender balance is slower and less stable than it first appears. 

In the first Gender Parity Index, 40 states earned a “D” grade (< 25.0) or worse (< 10.0); the remaining ten states were split evenly between “Cs” (< 33.0) and “Bs” (< 50.0), and no state achieved an “A” (50.0 and above). Ten years later, Maine and Oregon have both achieved an “A” for the first time, 24 states are split evenly between “Bs” and “Cs,” 23 states have earned a “D,” and Louisiana is the only failing state. 

In addition to releasing the 2023 Gender Parity Index, we have updated our GPI Score Dashboard to show how state scores have changed over time. This dashboard is an interactive tool. Click on the arrows or drop-down menu to navigate between each Gender Parity Map. Click on your state on the 2023 map to learn more about your state's score.  

2023 Report 2023 Methodology 2023 Score Table 2023 State Pages 2013-2023 Dashboard

infogram_0_724e9818-19c2-4e98-adf9-4dcffc464cea2022 State-Level MMDs and RCV Maphttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?otHtext/javascript

This map shows whether states have single-member plurality districts, two-member districts, or 3+ member districts (multi-member). The map also shows the two states that use ranked choice voting (Alaska and Maine). District magnitude matters because this determines how many subgroups can be represented. If there are more seats available, more groups obtain representation. 

infogram_0_c859a243-3516-4784-9885-62252b604aaa2022 Gender Cabinets Maphttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?X1Gtext/javascript

This map shows the gender makeup of state cabinets as of January 2022. Cabinet positions serve as opportunities for women to lead, and appointing women cabinet members can normalize women in positions of leadership, opening the door for more women in politics down the line. 

As research develops around women's political representation it often focuses on national and state levels, sometimes at the expense of other levels of elected representation. One such example of this data gap is women's current and historic political representation and voice within Tribal Nations. RepresentWomen has published preliminary research on a small number of Indigenous Nations in North America; and is in the midst of conducting an investigation into women's representation in the 576 federally recognized Tribal Nations in the 48 contiguous states and the 229 federally recognized Alaskan Native Nations and Corporations. As always RepresentWomen remains culturally humble in our approach to studying other cultures and systems of governance and are open and eager to partner with those who have more expertise. 

infogram_0_e465f915-6cc0-4b0c-a4a0-e841b5ad5a032020 Representation - Tribal Nations - Briefhttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?8CEtext/javascript

infogram_0_3f7623fc-ab02-4e4d-aa57-ef22c97bea96Voting Rights of Incarcerated ppl by Statehttps://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?Irktext/javascript

Incarceration impacts political representation by:

• Requiring formerly incarcerated individuals to pay legal financial obligations (LFOs) before being re-enfranchised. This pay-to-vote system is particularly difficult for formerly incarcerated women who face higher rates of unemployment both before and after incarceration than men. 
• Prison gerrymandering counts incarcerated individuals as residents of the prison's district rather than their home communities in the decennial census. This impacts both the funding and representation given to both the prison and home communities. 

Further research and resources on the topic can be found from allies in the field at: the Vera Institute of Justice, the Prison Policy Initiative, the Sentencing Project, and the following podcast with Michele Goodwin.