Cynthia Richie Terrell, the founder and executive director of RepresentWomen, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for more women in office, said that Biden's commitment early-on to picking a female running mate is an example of how men can wield their privilege to help change the underrepresentation of women in politics. "It's an important reminder that executives have a lot of power to accelerate progress to parity,” said Terrell. "It really begins to crack the egg of sexism, and all of a sudden people see that women can also be in positions of power."

In the previous nine years, there have been 156 local ranked choice elections among three or more candidates — and women have won 48 percent of them. Of those winners, 38 percent were women of color. At the start of this year, women were half of all mayors and 49 percent of all city council members elected by RCV. As more cities, and now states, begin adopting and implementing ranked-choice voting, it will be worth noting if these positive outcomes continue to grow.

Nearly 100 years after a large number of American women won the right to vote, progress for women in politics in the United States remains slow. Women have made important gains, but remain dramatically underrepresented in proportion to our share of the population — especially women of color and Republican women. Men disproportionately dominate Congress, state legislatures, city councils, and other elective offices.

In RepresentWomen’s 2020 PAC Report, “PACs and Donors: Agents of Change for Women’s Representation,” we found that women often raise comparable sums to men in the same party and in similar races. However, they are more likely to rely on more small-dollar donations than large political action committee (PAC) donations. This grassroots fundraising strategy takes more time and resources for campaigns and candidates, continuing to disadvantage women candidates. PACs are not less likely to fund women candidates because they have a lower chance of winning their race or are less qualified, but because PACs overfund incumbents.

As the last viable woman candidate leaves the field, we can expect the focus to shift quickly to the question of whether the remaining candidates will choose a woman — or even better, a woman of color — as a running mate. A woman vice president, regardless of race, would be a milestone for the U.S. and is a minimum requirement. If women are never at the top of the ticket, vice presidential running mates risk being seen as tokens, but we call on the major parties to always have a woman on their ticket to reflect a commitment to parity.

Abigail Adams wrote to her husband at the Continental Congress in 1776, warning John: "If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation." That famous quote is a timely reminder that women have long been at the forefront of democracy reform to demand that our voices be heard. As our country celebrates a century of the 19th Amendment and the "universal" suffrage that came with its ratification, we also must reflect on the slow and minimal progress we've made in the past century.

The 2019 elections heralded many local victories for women across the country—including the decision by voters in New York City to adopt ranked choice voting. Eleven jurisdictions used RCV on November 5, including five that used it for the first time—and women were big winners. Among the nine jurisdictions using RCV to elect their city councils, three are now majority women, and a fourth has a majority of women on its combined city council and school board elected by RCV. In the five cities electing mayors with RCV at the ballot box, women won three races, including two challengers who defeated incumbents in multi-candidate races.

Last month’s elections in Switzerland culminated in many historic outcomes, including the highest turnover of seats (58)—with the People’s Party losing 12, the Green Party adding 17 and women seizing 20 more in the House of Representatives. Prior to the election, the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s global ranking of women’s representation in national parliaments had Switzerland in 38th place, with the percentage of women in the House at 32.5 percent. Although their updated rankings have not yet been released, it seems likely that Switzerland will now rise to the top 20 ranked countries.

New Yorkers today will vote on Measure 1—and with a population of 8.6 million, the city has the chance to double the number of Americans who currently use ranked-choice voting (RCV) by voting yes. In a ranked-choice vote election, voters rank as many or as few candidates as they like in order of choice; first, second, third and so on. When a candidate has a majority of first-choice rankings, they win—just like in any election. But if no candidate has a majority, the last-place candidate is eliminated, and voters whose first choice lost have their votes instantly go to their next choice. The process repeats until two candidates remain, and the candidate with the majority wins.  Eighteen cities already use RCV. And for women candidates, it’s a major boon.