The water lily in my small pond blossomed this week...
Dear supporters of women's leadership in politics,
I struggled this week to find an appropriate story and image to lead with given the killing of children in Texas that follows so closely on the heels of the shooting at the grocery store in Buffalo and so many other
senseless deaths due to gun-related violence. While there are undoubtedly many factors that are driving
young men to commit these heinous acts of violence it's clear that our antiquated voting system & gridlock in Congress prevent action on gun safety that the
majority of Americans support.
The task of the NRA, then—to target their resources to the battleground states and districts like squares on a checkerboard, and try to alarm just enough swing voters there -- is rendered much easier by the geographic-based political map of our winner-take-all system. And it is not too hard to figure out where to target: a 2020 Rand Corporation study found that the 20 states with the highest rates of gun ownership elected almost two-thirds of the Senate’s Republican lawmakers and comprised about two-thirds of the states that President Donald Trump carried in the 2020 election. The 20 states with the lowest rates of gun ownership have more than two and a half times as many residents (about 192 million) as the 20 states with the highest gun-ownership rates (about 69 million).
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House Speaker Tina Kotek, former House Republican Leader Christine Drazan, and the well-funded unaffiliated candidate, long-time democratic lawmaker Betsy Johnson, Graphic by RepresentWomen
Dear women's representation enthusiasts,
I am back in the Bay Area this week meeting with other supporters of proportional voting to discuss strategies to modernize U.S. House elections with ranked choice voting in districts that elect 3 or more people. This systems change, that
The New York Times editorial page supports, would simultaneously eliminate gerrymandering, ensure partisan fairness, elect multiple communities of color from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and increase women's representation in the House by at least 40% in the first few election cycles after adoption. RepresentWomen is glad to be at the table for this conversation and to convene a Women's Thought Leader Table in partnership with
FairVote to build support for proportional voting among women leaders.
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Dear fans of women's representation in politics,
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Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!
From teammate to teammate, the staff at RepresentWomen will give you our must-reads for women’s representation from this week.
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Greta Thunberg, painted by Melanie Humble
Dear fans of gender balance in politics,
The first
Earth Day was celebrated 52 years ago and was intended to raise awareness about threats to the environment in the United States, since then the day has grown to include calls for action to address a changing climate - around the globe. Women have always been at the heart of the movement, from
Rachel Carson, whose seminal work
Silent Spring introduced generations of lawmakers to the dangers of pesticides, to
Greta Thunberg, whose climate activism has challenged world leaders to work harder to protect the planet, to young women like my daughter
Becca Richie, whose work with
Climate Clock provides a clear and urgent timetable for action.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
Dear friends of women's representation,
While it has been amazing to
read all the stories about the confirmation of Judge Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, Black women continue to be under-represented at all levels of government. There are bright spots - like the NYC Council that is now led by women of color - due in part to the combination of 21 in 21, public financing, and ranked choice voting. But according to
this piece by
Glynda Carr,
Monica Simpson, and
Leah Daughtry in
USA Today we have a lot of work to do to reach a democracy that reflects the communities it represents:
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed to a seat on the Supreme Court
Dear friends of women's representation,
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court when Justice Breyer retires at the end of this term. It bears repeating that Judge Jackson will be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court - of the
115 people to have served just 5 have been women. And while the hearings were at times contentious, 3 Republican senators - all of whom happen to be from states that use ranked choice voting - voted to confirm Judge Jackson. Here is
a snippet from
The New York Times coverage of this historic event:
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to be elevated to the pinnacle of the judicial branch in what her supporters hailed as a needed step toward bringing new diversity and life experience to the court.
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Women now hold 61% of seats on the NY city council
Dear fans of gender balance of in politics,
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Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
Dear fans of women's representation,
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was a "model of composure" in the face of "egregious behavior of some on the Republican side" according to
The Washington Post editorial board.
Washington Post columnist
Jennifer Rubin did not mince words in
her column on the proceedings and the efforts by some to undermine the nomination of Judge Jackson:
It was then Jackson’s turn. She thanked God, her glowing family, her friends and her country. She invoked Justice Stephen G. Breyer, for whom she clerked, a not-too-subtle reminder that if the Senate found him acceptable, there should be no reason to oppose her. She gave a nod to Constance Baker Motley, the first African American woman appointed to the federal judiciary. And Jackson reaffirmed her “careful adherence to precedent,” acknowledging her tendency to write long opinions so people know exactly her reasons for deciding a case. (If only the Supreme Court’s right-wing justices felt similarly and stopped abusing the “shadow docket” and issuing orders without written opinions.)
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