Dear Readers,
What an exciting week! Vice President Kamala Harris has officially announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Earlier this year, Governor Walz signed the Minnesota Voting Rights Act (MNVRA) into law, which expands the availability of proportional ranked-choice voting! In 2022, he attended a FairVote Minnesota rally and spoke to support RCV as a systems-wide approach to improving our democracy.
This week, RepresentWomen’s Outreach Manager Alissa Bombadier Shaw and Research Manager Steph Scaglia attended the 2024 National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) in Louisville, Kentucky! They had a fantastic time meeting with state and local elected officials from across the United States who are committed to advancing public policy reforms. Steph and Alissa shared some highlights from our 2024 Gender Parity Index, our report on compensation commissions, “Salaries of State” , and other ways to build women’s political power. They also had a blast connecting with state legislators who are RCV supporters Cathy Giessel (AK), Mary Mushinsky( CT), Mary Kunesh (MN), and Cheryl Kagan (MD)!
Alissa Bombardier Shaw and Steph Scaglia with State Senator Cathy Giessel
Alissa Bombardier Shaw with State Senator Mary K Kunesh
Alissa Bombardier Shaw with State Senator Cheryl C. Kagan
This week, we’ll be covering a new opinion piece on the 2024 Gender Parity Index that was covered in The Fulcrum, my interview with Business Insider, how Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan may become the first Native American governor in the United States, and how we can support moms in elected office. I also wish Melinda French Gates, founder of Pivotal Ventures, a happy, early birthday. Her generosity allows so many organizations to empower women to run for office, serve their communities, start businesses, and so much more.
What A Kamala Harris Presidency Could Do for Women in Business
Photo credit: Elizabeth Frantz, Reuters
In just two weeks, Kamala Harris will accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president. Her historic acceptance would boost women interested in running for office up and down the ticket and women seeking leadership positions outside of the political world.
Katie Balevic of Business Insider writes:
"Having a woman as president, I think, normalizes what women's leadership looks like across everything, whether that's the private sector, public sector, education, labor, business, military," Cynthia Richie Terrell, 'executive director of Represent Women, which advocates for women in politics, told Business Insider. "I think a lot becomes possible overnight.
In the business world, companies with female CEOs outperform those led by men, according to the World Economic Forum. The same is true for women-led hedge funds and women-led startups.
Despite that success, women now run just 10% of Fortune 500 companies, a record-high that has remained the same since 2023. "Those companies where women had a higher share in the board and in leadership were more likely to be profitable, and I think there's a clear connection to women in government," Richie Terrell said. "Women tend to bring those same skills, the ability to multitask, the ability to build networks, the ability to listen, which we hear a lot of times that women have a greater ability to do that."
2024 Gender Parity Index Reveals Urgent Need for Systems-Oriented Solutions to Achieve Gender Balance in Politics
Credit: RepresentWomen
Research Director Courtney Lamendola and Research Manager Steph Scaglia wrote a fantastic op-ed in The Fulcrum and Ms. Magazine on our newly released 2024 Gender Parity Index. Despite some advancements in gender balance, women's overall representation remains low. Women hold less than one-third of elected positions while making up over half of the U.S. population. A systems-based approach is essential to accelerate progress toward gender balance.
Rhetoric touting record-breaking wins for women’s representation often overshadows the reality of stagnation in the number of women running for office at the national, state, and local levels. Women remain underrepresented at every level of government in the U.S., comprising over 50 percent of the population but holding just under one-third of all elected positions. Incremental score changes by one or two points do not necessarily reflect broad, system-wide movements to elect women to all levels of government.
The 2024 index reflects our complex political landscape, suggesting progress in women’s political representation may stagnate or even backslide. This index shows the most movement for women at the state and local levels: Louisiana elected two new women as state executives, and Indiana elected nine new women to local offices. To make lasting progress in women’s representation, we must take a systems-level approach that creates opportunities for women to enter the political sphere and supports the women already in office.
Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan Poised to Become First Native American Woman Governor of Minnesota
Credit: Andrea Ellen Reed
Now that VP and Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris has announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan could become the first Native American woman governor of Minnesota in January 2025. If Harris wins the presidential election, Walz will assume the position of Vice President, and Flanagan will become Minnesota’s next governor.
Flanagan, Minnesota’s 50th lieutenant governor and the highest-ranking Native woman in executive office in the U.S., has a rich public service and advocacy background.
Levi Rickert and Neely Bardwell from Yahoo News report:
Flanagan earned her bachelor’s degree in American Indian studies and child psychology in 2002 from the University of Minnesota. She then went on to serve on the Minneapolis Board of Education from 2005 to 2009. Not long after, she started working at Wellstone Action, the organization founded to carry on the work of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, for nearly a decade. As one of the original trainers of Wellstone Action’s signature program, Camp Wellstone, she trained thousands of organizers, elected officials, and candidates, including the now Governor Walz…
It wasn't until 2015 that Flanagan was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives to serve her home community of St. Louis Park, Golden Valley, Plymouth, and Medicine Lake. She served as the DFL lead on the Subcommittee on Child Care Access and Affordability. In 2017, she collaboratively formed the state’s first People of Color and Indigenous Caucus which works to improve the education, health, and economic opportunities of people of color and Indigenous communities across the state.
Why We Need Policies to Support More Moms in Office 
Photo Credit: New York Times
Better policies are made when more women sit at the decision-making table. One of the barriers to getting women to run and stay in office is the lack of need for legislators at the local and state levels. Our report, Salaries of State: Modernizing State Legislatures through Compensation Commissions, has found that adopting compensation commissions removes many of the barriers legislators face when working to increase pay directly and facilitate a diverse political environment where more women are incentivized to run for office and have the means to stay once elected.
Kara Alaimo writes in Time Magazine:
In 28 states, childcare costs more than in-state college tuition, according to a 2023 NetCredit study. And people running for or holding political office often work exceptionally long hours, so their childcare costs are likely higher than average. What’s more, politicians in 17 states can’t use campaign funds to pay for childcare while running for office, according to the Vote Mama Foundation. And politicians in 38 states and Washington, DC can’t use campaign funds for caregiving while they’re carrying out their official duties. That’s a huge problem because the vast majority of state legislatures don’t pay lawmakers enough to afford the cost of living in their states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Women are Leading the Count in the United States Medal Count
Photo Credit:(AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
The 2024 Paris Olympics was the first to achieve gender parity between athletes! The gap between men's and women’s sports is also closing—this year, there are 157 events for men and 152 for women to compete in. Most notably, as of Monday, women have won 44 (and counting) of the 78 medals the United States is bringing back! 2008 was the first time Team USA’s women’s medal count outpaced male athletes, and that trend has continued to the present day.
Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe writes:
It’s impossible to look at the US women’s ascension without examining what it took to achieve it. In many ways, the timeline of women’s Olympic sports is a case study in how long it actually takes to remedy inequality. A battle for access, opportunity, and resources lasted more than a century and has just started to bear fruit…
The gains women have made can be seen not only in the medal count but also in the range of sports. The US men’s and women’s teams are typically led by swimming and track and field. Gymnastics is also a pillar for the women’s team. But in 2021, women participated in 44 sports and medaled in 24 (men medaled in 15 of 38). From wrestling to weightlifting, taekwondo to shooting, US women compete in — and medal in — a wide range of disciplines.
Kamala Harris, painted by Melanie Humble
Finally, two amazing women allies, Maria Perez, co-founder and co-director of Democracy Rising, and Muthoni Wambu Kraal, co-founder and executive director of the Women’s Democracy Lab, wrote a terrific OpEd on The Grio entitled “We are Kamala: Women of color are activated to create an inclusive democracy” – here is an excerpt:
There is a spark in the air and a renewed hope for America’s future. The thought of Kamala Harris making history as the first female president of the United States, as a Black and South Asian American is galvanizing women of color across the nation, who finally feel seen and heard. We are witnessing record-breaking organizing around her candidacy that has fired up everyone from the grassroots to grass tops. It started with over 44,000 Black women who broke Zoom and has been followed by a succession of enormous calls by many other affinity groups coalescing behind her.
As two directors of organizations that focus on supporting Indigenous women and women of color in civic leadership, this is what we know: We are going to make a just and livable world for us, we promise you. As women of color, we have been training for generations to reimagine our world, and we are in a moment where only inclusive leadership and an expansive joining in are going to save our democracy…
Across partisan beliefs, it’s critical that we continue to grow the bench of leaders who will innovate and are already fighting to support a multiracial, constitutional democracy. And we must back them up. This house doesn’t need a complete teardown as Kamala Harris’ ascendancy helps to demonstrate. It’s in need of rehabilitation and is ready for the bridge builders who can help us manage the change we desperately need.
Take our RCV Poll to celebrate an RCV Champion!
From listening to Prince to enjoying the Minnesota State Fair to celebrating expanded access to #RCV this year, what is your favorite thing about the Land of 10,000 Lakes? Congratulations to Ranked Choice Voting Advocate Tim Walz for becoming the vice-presidential nominee!
That's all for this week! Enjoy your weekend.
Cynthia Richie Terrell
P.S.
The RepresentWomen team will be taking a much-needed break from August 12-16th. Our offices will be closed, but follow us on social media to see how we're enjoying our summer!
P.S.S.
Last night, my daughter Anna and I made pickles together, and I’m thrilled with how delicious our homemade summer snack turned out!
