From the Women’s March on Versailles to the Anita Hill hearings, from breaking a 1,400-year stained-glass ceiling with the appointment of Dame Sarah Mullally as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, to reflections on the legacy of Jane Goodall — this week’s Weekend Reading traces how women’s footsteps have always carried us forward. Read on for powerful stories of women walking for justice, equality, and representation — and why systemic reforms are still needed to reach true gender parity.

Note: While Cynthia is traveling this week, I’ve been honored to step in with the introduction to Weekend Reading. What follows is a special staff contribution from our RepresentWomen team — a reflection on the women who have walked before us and the work still ahead to achieve gender parity.

— Alana Persson, on behalf of RepresentWomen

One year ago today, I set out on the Camino de Santiago, beginning my pilgrimage by crossing the Pyrenees mountains in France. The climb was steep, the air thin, my backpack pressing heavy into my shoulders — and yet each step carried its own quiet strength. Over the course of 500 miles, there was plenty of time to think. Again and again, my mind went to the women who had walked before us, carrying burdens far greater than mine. They walked not just to cover ground, but to claim justice. Not with backpacks and hiking boots, but with children in their arms, visions in their hearts, and the weight of systems stacked against them. Their steps weren’t only about reaching a destination — they were about changing its direction, bending the course of history so that women could be seen, heard, and represented.

Alana Persson, RepresentWomen’s communications consultant, pictured in the French Pyrenees on her first day walking the Camino Frances route of the Camino de Santiago. 

And October itself reminds us of these women’s walks — from the markets of Paris to the steps of the Senate to the pulpits of Canterbury — each stride a testament to how far women have carried us, and how much further we must still go.

On October 5, 1789, thousands of women left the markets of Paris and marched twelve miles to the Palace of Versailles. At first, they demanded bread — their families had been starving for months due to food shortages and soaring prices. But as the march grew, so did its purpose. By the time the women reached Versailles, their cry for bread had become a demand for justice and accountability. They forced King Louis XVI and his court to return with them to Paris, effectively ending royal isolation and forever shifting the balance of power in the French Revolution.

In 1789, French revolutionaries and market women converged at the Palace of Versailles, marking a crucial moment in the French Revolution. Source: Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images

Two centuries later, on October 9, 1991, seven congresswomen — Barbara Boxer, Pat Schroeder, Barbara Kennelly, Louise Slaughter, Jolene Unsoeld, Patsy Mink, Nita Lowey, and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton — walked up the steps of the U.S. Senate to demand that Anita Hill be heard during Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings. At a moment when an all-male committee seemed prepared to silence her, these women insisted that her testimony be allowed. Their protest, later described as the “female Iwo Jima,” was more than symbolic — it was a march against silence itself.

Watercolor painting depicting six of the congresswomen who marched up the Capitol steps in 1991 to demand Anita Hill be allowed to testify. In total, seven Representatives and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton took part — a moment Rep. Louise Slaughter later called “the female Iwo Jima.” Source: Melanie Humble 

Hill’s testimony reverberated far beyond that hearing room. She later reflected:

“The real problem is that the way that power is given in our society pits us against each other.”

At the time, only 29 women served in the House and two in the Senate. By the very next year, that number had surged to 47 in the House and seven in the Senate — a wave remembered as the “Year of the Woman.” Hill’s courage helped turn private pain into public reckoning, reshaping the conversation on sexual harassment and laying the groundwork for the #MeToo movement decades later. Her walk into history reminds us that representation is not only about gaining seats, but also about telling truths, taking risks, and breaking barriers.

And now, this October, we witness another milestone: Dame Sarah Mullally has been named the first female Archbishop of Canterbury — the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, which spans more than 85 million members across 165 countries. It is a role that has existed since the year 597, passed down through 105 men before her. Mullally, once a cancer nurse and later England’s youngest chief nursing officer, now takes her walk to the pulpit carrying a staff that for 1,400 years was closed to women — breaking through a stained-glass ceiling that had held firm for centuries. As George Gross of King’s College London put it, 

“There was a time where female priests — the idea of that — seemed absurd. But we’ve moved a long way from that. And if you can have a female prime minister, you have a female monarch, it seems, why can’t you have the female archbishop of Canterbury?”

Sarah Mullally, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, poses for the media inside Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England, Friday, October 3. Source: AP News. 

Mullally herself acknowledged the divides within the church and the resistance to her nomination. Yet she thanked the women who had come before her and pledged to be a shepherd who enables others to flourish. Her very appointment is proof that glass ceilings can be broken, even within the oldest of institutions — though rarely without cracks, and rarely without those who insist the ceiling remain intact.

These stories — of Parisian women demanding bread, of congresswomen demanding justice, of a nurse-turned-bishop breaking one of the oldest stained-glass ceilings in the world — remind us of something Jane Goodall, who died this week, once said:

“One individual cannot possibly make a difference, alone. It is individual efforts, collectively, that makes a noticeable difference — all the difference in the world.”

From the cobblestones of Versailles to the steps of the Senate, from pilgrim paths to cathedral pulpits, women’s footsteps have always carried us forward. They walk when institutions stall. They march when doors close. And together — in protest, in persistence, in prayer — they leave us a path toward a more just and representative future.

Milestones for notable women this week include birthdays for: Caroline Harrison (former First Lady), Grace Meng (U.S. Rep.), Sharon Weston Broome (Mayor of Baton Rouge), Jena Griswold (CO Secretary of State), Amy Zucchero Litman (iGNiTE), Karen Bass (Mayor of Los Angeles, former U.S. Rep.), Ilhan Omar (U.S. Rep.), Susan Sarandon (actress), Lauren Underwood (U.S. Rep.), and Maya Lin (architect of the Vietnam War Memorial). 

Proportional Representation Can End Gerrymandering - and Open Doors to Women

Women reached parity in New Zealand’s parliament, elected by a “mixed-member” proportional system. Source: New Zealand Parliament Facebook. 

Winner-take-all elections make losers out of all of us, but never more so when politicians can draw their own congressional districts. Our nation’s bitter struggle over political power is playing out dramatically, with a fresh round of “mid-decennial” gerrymandering very much out of our norms, which dictate that districts are drawn only after the census. Donald Trump has personally gotten involved in a string of Republican-run states redrawing lines, most dramatically in Texas, where the Republicans seek to shift five Democratic seats into their column. That has prompted California Democrats to put a measure on the November ballot to mitigate the impact of Texas, even as several other Republican states are likely to seek to gain as many as a dozen more states.

RepresentWomen has highlighted how adopting the Congressional Fair Representation Act would end congressional gerrymandering once and for all, while also creating new opportunities for women to increase their representation significantly. I was pleased to see conservative columnist Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, write an excellent piece on proportional representation a few weeks ago. Here’s an excerpt on “how to end gerrymandering forever”:

Fortunately, there is an easy way to end gerrymandering by adopting PR and keeping America’s single-member tradition. All we have to do is tweak a system that is used in Germany. Germany awards seats in its national legislature, the Bundestag, according to the share of votes a party receives, provided it obtains at least 5% of the total. But it also has single-member districts where the person who wins the most votes, even if it is much less than a majority, wins a seat. 

It marries the American district system to the European PR system by giving each seat to the candidate who carries a district first, and awarding seats from a party-approved list only after a district representative first fills the party quota. America could adopt this system and do away with party lists entirely with a simple adaptation: award seats to candidates from a party that wins more seats as a party than it has won in single-member districts when those candidates lose by narrow margins.

Expand Democracy, in its weekly Substack newsletter, recently reported on how Americans are increasingly ready for such a dramatic change. The article noted: 

Former 538 editor G. Elliott Morris releases a poll showing openness to proportional representation for Congress. From an August 26th post on X on poll:

“Putting on my electoral reform hat, promising support for PR in our new poll. Could approximate with multi-member districts by a simple act of Congress. 9 in 10 adults say that fair elections are more important to them than their party winning (higher than I expected, tbh)...Most voters also say that single-member districts are unfair to the minority party in deep red/blue states. We asked if voters would support a system that allocated House seats by party proportional to the share of the vote they win statewide, and 46% said yes (27% no).”

Malawi Coalition Lifts up Women in Politics During National Elections

Source: UN Women

Malawi held its general elections on September 16. We’ll keep an eye out for stories on how women fared, but we wanted to share this pre-election story from UN Women, which serves as a reminder of the ongoing work to advance women in politics worldwide.

A formidable alliance of five organizations in the Thyolo district is striving to uphold peace and democracy, not through division, but through unity, civic education, and the active involvement of women.The coalition, consisting of nongovernmental organisations, Chipembere Community Development Organization (CCDO), National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Trust, the Public Affairs Committee (PAC), the District Peace and Unity Committee, and a community drama group, has initiated a collaborative effort to foster peaceful, informed, and inclusive elections. This initiative is supported by the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund through UN Women Malawi.

The coalition conducted civic engagement sessions in different parts of Thyolo district in southern Malawi, using interactive drama performances and open community discussions to address electoral malpractices such as political violence, vote-buying, and tribalism. They also advocated for issue-based campaigning, tolerance, and enhanced participation of women in politics. Over 8,500 community members were reached through these awareness raising sessions.

Central to this initiative is a dedication to ensuring that women, who are often marginalized in political processes—are not merely voters but also leaders in cultivating a peaceful electoral atmosphere. Dalitso Chiwayula, Executive Director of CCDO, underscored that democracy cannot flourish without the inclusion of women’s voices.

Congratulations to Time Magazine “Rising Star” Layla Zaidane

Source: The Obama Foundation

Time Magazine has published profiles of what it labels the 100 most influential rising stars. Here is Congresswoman Sarah McBride on Layla Zaidane, CEO of the impactful organization Future Caucus.

Layla Zaidane believes in the power of young people to renew our democracy—and she’s built a life proving it. Long before she became president and CEO of Future Caucus, Layla was organizing young voices on college affordability and campus safety, showing how fresh leadership could change national conversations. I know this firsthand: early in our careers, we worked side by side, and I saw her skills up close.

Today, she leads the largest nonpartisan network of millennial and Gen Z lawmakers in the country, helping them bridge deep partisan divides, write future-­oriented policy, and model a politics rooted in collaboration rather than contempt.

Now more than ever before, we need young leaders who choose a politics of grace over rage, unity over division. Layla reminds me that progress is not inevitable, but it is possible when hope and courage outweigh cynicism.

Congratulations to Layla and the many other women on the list, including Hannah Fried of All Voting is Local.

Stanford Project on How Training Women Can Boost Engagement in Politics in Nigeria

Claire Adida. Source: Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.

Gender quotas and proportional representation electoral systems have been central to increasing women’s representation in legislatures; however, women’s political engagement extends to other dimensions as well. Here’s an excerpt from a new release from Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law: 

On September 25, 2025, FSI Senior Fellow Claire Adida presented her team’s research at a CDDRL Research Seminar Series talk under the title, “Overcoming Barriers to Women’s Political Participation: Evidence from Nigeria.” The seminar addressed a central paradox in global politics: although women’s legal formal right to vote is nearly universal, deep gender gaps remain in informal forms of political participation, such as contacting a local government official or attending a community meeting. This lack of engagement means women’s voices are underrepresented in governance and policies are less likely to reflect their priorities. This is particularly salient in hybrid democracies, where informal political participation may matter more than casting a vote.

Adida situated the study in the context of Nigeria, a large and diverse democracy that remains heavily patriarchal. Surveys highlight these disparities starkly: nearly half of Nigerian men believe men make better leaders than women; two in five women report never discussing politics with friends or family; and women are consistently less likely than men to attend meetings or contact community leaders. Against this backdrop, the project tested interventions designed to reduce barriers that discourage women’s participation….[T]wo types of training were introduced. The first, targeted at women, consisted of five sessions over five months designed to build leadership, organizing, and advocacy skills. These emphasized group-based learning and aimed to foster collective efficacy — the belief that a group can act together to achieve change. The second, targeted at men, encouraged husbands to act as allies in supporting women’s participation…

The findings were striking. Women’s trainings had clear positive effects: participants were more likely to engage in politics, attend meetings, and contact local leaders. The quality of their participation also improved, suggesting greater confidence and effectiveness. There was also evidence that these women’s trainings activated collective and self-efficacy, lending credence to the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA), a framework explaining how a sense of shared identity, group-based injustice, and group efficacy build political engagement. By contrast, men’s trainings produced modest results. They did not increase women’s participation beyond the women’s trainings and, in some cases, had small negative effects, such as on grant applications. Still, men’s trainings reduced opposition to women’s involvement, improved beliefs about women in leadership, and increased perceptions of more permissive community norms, even if they did not translate into an increase in women’s political participation.

Remembering Mary Rose Oakar, Pioneering Congresswoman

Mary Rose Oakar in 1992. Source: Roll Call.

Mary Rose Oakar, the first Arab American woman elected to Congress, died in September, marking the loss of a pioneering figure in American political history. Serving her Ohio district from 1977 to 1993, Oakar was a key voice on issues ranging from voting rights to equitable access to federal resources, and she played a prominent role in shaping debates over democratic inclusion during a transformative period in US politics. From her Cleveland.com obituary:

Born March 5, 1940, to parents of Lebanese and Syrian ancestry, Oakar was the youngest of five children in a working-class Cleveland family. Her father was a laborer and her mother a homemaker. She would later reflect on her diverse upbringing in an interview with the U.S. House of Representatives historian: “We were very oriented toward our neighborhood. I came from a very diverse community, which I love. ... I went to school and grew up with people of all backgrounds and races. I think that dealing with my peers was a great experience in preparation for being in public life.”...

From 1963 to 1975, she taught at her alma mater, Lourdes Academy, and Cuyahoga Community College before entering politics as a Cleveland City Council member from 1973 to 1976.

In 1976, Oakar launched an innovative congressional campaign that would become the stuff of Cleveland political legend. Traveling through her district in a Model T Ford and later a rose-decorated convertible, she distributed rose-themed pens to remind voters of her name.

“So we would go in this Model T Ford all over the district, which was pretty large,” she recalled. “And people would come out because they wanted to see the car, and then I’d get to meet them.”

Oakar became the first Democratic woman elected to Congress from Ohio. She served eight terms, representing Cleveland’s West Side from 1977 to 1993. …One of her most significant legislative achievements was championing federal funding for breast cancer research. At a time when little federal money was directed toward the disease, she pressed the issue relentlessly until Congress approved more than $400 million in funding in the early 1990s — nearly triple the previous year’s budget. She also helped establish new quality standards for mammography screenings.

“I wish this had happened sooner, because we’d be about 10 years closer to finding a cure. Then again, we’ve got to go forward, not backward,” Oakar said of the breakthrough funding.

Appreciation for Jane Goodall, A Trailblazer in Science and Environmental Protection

Jane Goodall at the Jane Goodall Institute's Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo. Source: Colorado Public Radio.

The scientist and humanitarian leader Jane Goodall died this week at age 91. Goodall was a giant for people of my generation, with an inspiring story of breaking into a male-dominated field with intelligence, courage, and persistence. Here are excerpts from the Washington Post obituary:

Dr. Goodall, whose research prompted a transformation in the ways scientists study social behavior across species, has died at 91. ..In a career spanning more than half a century, Dr. Goodall used her global fame to draw attention to the plight of dwindling chimpanzee populations and, more broadly, to the perils of environmental destruction…

“For me as a little girl, seeing this brave young woman going out and living in the wilds of Africa and being determined to make it work was just an incredible inspiration,” said Elizabeth Lonsdorf, a professor at Emory University who has conducted research at Gombe for two decades. She added that, long after Dr. Goodall conducted her pathbreaking research, female undergraduates still say she was the one who sparked their interest in field biology.

When Dr. Goodall began her work, female field scientists were so uncommon that a British commissioner for Tanganyika refused to allow Dr. Goodall to stay at Gombe unless she was accompanied by an escort. She chose her mother, Vanne.

Even after her important finds, the male-dominated scientific establishment largely dismissed Dr. Goodall as a wisp of a woman who insisted on naming her research subjects, a practice regarded as unacceptably sentimental and anthropomorphic.

But she succeeded in revolutionizing primatology and field biology perhaps because of — not in spite of — her lack of training. The same impulse that led her to name her research subjects also led her to see the animals as individuals, and she documented the extraordinary range of their emotions and personalities.

“She has made the most important contributions of any primatologist in history,” said Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford professor who studies baboons using Dr. Goodall’s model of long-term field observation. “She’s simply the patron saint of the field.”..\

She grew up in a house filled with women: her mother, nanny, grandmother, two aunts and a younger sister, Judy. “I do not remember a time when I was growing up anybody ever saying to me, ‘Well, you can’t do that because you’re a girl,’” she told Britain’s Independent newspaper in 2003.

Meritocracy Matters: The Leadership Gap at Global Financial Institutions

Source: Center for Global Development. 

For years, the world’s most powerful international financial institutions — the World Bank, IMF, Inter-American Development Bank, and their peers — have declared gender equality central to development. However, new research from the Center for Global Development (CGD) reveals a persistent blind spot: women are hired into technical roles at near parity, yet they are not being promoted into leadership positions at the same rate.

This isn’t just a diversity statistic. As CGD notes, it’s “a governance, effectiveness, and human resources problem that deserves continued, careful tracking and remedial action.”

The pipeline is not the problem: women are recruited into entry- and mid-level positions at nearly the same rate as men. The real issue is what happens after that first hire. As the data shows, women fall off sharply as roles become more senior — a pattern that reflects systemic bias in promotion systems, not a lack of qualified talent.

Why does this matter? Research is clear: who leads shapes what institutions do. Studies show that when women are present in decision-making roles, priorities shift. At the World Bank, projects led by women have higher-quality gender integration. Globally, greater female representation in legislatures has been tied to increased investment in education and health. In India, the presence of female leaders has measurably impacted policy outcomes — from infrastructure and water access to air quality. Representation isn’t symbolic; it changes institutions.

The risk now, CGD warns, is backsliding. Periods of rapid change — such as restructurings, leadership turnover, and global shocks — often erode women’s gains in leadership, without safeguards such as transparent promotion criteria, mandatory gender balance on selection panels, and targeted leadership development for mid-career women. Parity at lower levels risks becoming a superficial achievement, while power remains concentrated at the top.

As CGD puts it,

“Meritocracy is not a zero-sum game. When employees feel valued and are treated fairly, they are more likely to thrive, and that collective success strengthens institutions, expands opportunities, and fuels impact.”

For the IFIs, whose mandate is to deliver sustainable economic development, the stakes couldn’t be higher. These institutions cannot credibly champion women’s leadership abroad while falling short in their own ranks. Tracking progress, ensuring transparency, and reforming promotion systems aren’t just about fairness — they are about effectiveness, credibility, and the future of global governance.

Life Sciences Faces a Leadership Void as Women CEOs Exit

Source: FierceBiotech

The life sciences sector, despite having a majority female workforce, is bracing for a setback in representation at the top. Two of the industry’s rare women CEOs — GSK’s Emma Walmsley and Merck KGaA’s Belén Garijo — are expected to step down, leaving almost no women at the helm of large biopharma companies.

This loss of leadership comes against a sobering global backdrop: the 2025 Global Gender Gap Report warns it will take 123 years to achieve gender parity worldwide at the current pace.

While women make up 56% of the life sciences workforce, the gender gap at the executive level remains stubbornly wide. New survey findings from Meet Life Sciences, based on responses from over 25,000 professionals, highlight why. The majority of respondents stated that men have an advantage in securing top roles — a belief that increased to 56% in 2025, up from 41% two years prior. As one respondent put it:

“I have to work twice as hard and explain myself a lot more than my male colleagues, which is really frustrating. Growth opportunities are not in reach despite positive evaluations.”

The report points to four systemic barriers driving this persistent leadership gap:

• Underrepresentation in STEM: Women hold just 35% of STEM roles.
  
• The “motherhood penalty”: Women are penalized for family responsibilities.
  
• Menopause stigma: Workplace cultures rarely support women through this transition.
  
• Bias and discrimination: From subtle slights to inequitable task assignments, women face barriers their male colleagues do not.
  

Despite the discouraging findings, there are signs of change: 92% of survey participants said they want more women in leadership, up from 87% in 2023.

The stakes are high. As Meet Life Sciences notes,

"Lacking diversity at the C-suite level can negatively impact innovation, efficiency and overall company performance. When fewer women hold senior positions, top talent in the market is missed and systemic inequality deepens."

In an industry built on discovery and problem-solving, narrowing leadership pipelines for women doesn’t just weaken equality — it undermines progress itself.

At RepresentWomen, we recognize that this challenge isn’t unique to the life sciences. Across sectors — from politics to business to global institutions — women face systemic barriers that stall their path to leadership. Our work focuses on changing the rules of the game: strengthening pipelines, reforming systems, and ensuring that women have equal opportunities to run, win, serve, and lead. Fixing the leadership gap isn’t just about fairness — it’s about unlocking the full potential of our institutions, our industries, and our democracy.

UN Women Leaders Network Calls for Bold Action on Peace

Panelist Inés Yábar, UN Youth Office Expert: Young Leaders for the SDGs. Photo: UN Women/Jennifer Graylock

On the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 80), a diverse group of women leaders gathered to call for urgent action to place women at the center of global peace efforts. The event, hosted by the UN Women Leaders Network in partnership with the Government of Iceland and the UN Foundation, precedes two significant milestones: the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security, and the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous opened with a reminder of both the challenges and the stakes:

“We feel the weight of the challenges of conflict and crisis. But we all also recognize the power of women’s leadership, from this room to our local communities… equality for women and girls makes the biggest difference.”

Panelists, including Nobel Peace Laureate Tawakkol Karman, former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, and former Finnish President Tarja Halonen, shared real-world examples of women leading peace negotiations, humanitarian responses, and post-conflict reconstruction. Yet they also emphasized the gap between grassroots progress and political will. As Helen Clark noted,

“It would be rather nice to have more political commitment at higher levels to match the effort on the ground.”

The leaders laid out a clear agenda:

• Increase women’s meaningful involvement in all peace and security processes.
• Ensure equal participation and decision-making across conflict prevention, negotiations, and peacebuilding.
• Establish accountability mechanisms to enforce gender-equal participation.

The gathering also set the stage for a Call to Action on Women’s Leadership for Peace, to be developed in the coming months.

For women’s representation, the message is unequivocal: women must not be sidelined in the decisions that define peace and security worldwide. Or, as the event concluded, when women lead, peace follows.

At RepresentWomen, we know these global milestones matter close to home, too. Building lasting peace and strong democracies requires not just women’s presence but women’s power — in parliaments, cabinets, peace tables, and beyond. That’s why our work to reform systems and strengthen pathways for women to run, win, serve, and lead is essential to achieving the just and representative future these leaders envision.

Women Climate Leaders Network Pushes for a Green and Inclusive Europe

The Women Climate Leaders Network (WCLN) gathered in Brussels this week for its mid-year meeting, bringing together women business leaders from across the EU, policymakers, and experts to advance Europe’s green and inclusive transition.

The group emphasized that Europe’s competitiveness depends on embracing decarbonization.“The green transition is the only way, as Europe cannot compete on fossil fuels,” one speaker remarked. Members called for creating a supportive policy and funding environment that empowers SMEs, innovators, and female leaders to drive solutions.

The meeting built on WCLN’s March 2025 recommendations to improve EU financing tools for SME greening and scaling, and highlighted the need for more advisory support for newer EU member states. Encouragingly, recent research indicates that 90% of European SMEs now view reducing emissions as critical, and 84% perceive decarbonization as an opportunity rather than a risk.

The Network also engaged the European Investment Bank Group on its upcoming Climate Bank Roadmap 2026–2030, urging continued ambition and alignment with Europe’s green goals. Members later attended the Climate & Energy Summit, hosted by Friends of Europe, where they showcased market-driven climate solutions and emphasized the importance of women-led collaboration in achieving energy independence, resilience, and innovation.

As the article concludes: 

“The Brussels gathering reaffirmed the transformative power of women-led collaboration and the importance of inclusive leadership in shaping Europe’s future. As one participant noted, “This is Europe’s Declaration of Independence—building resilience through energy autonomy, digital innovation, and a green economy rooted in shared values.”

P.S. 

We’re excited to share that our 2025 Gender Parity Index findings were featured this week on Gender on the Ballot, a project of the Women & Politics Institute at American University.

Their blog, “The 2025 Gender Parity Index: Progress Made, But Half of States Still Lag Behind,” highlights the uneven progress toward women’s representation and underscores the need for systemic reforms to remain essential. You can read the whole piece here.