Dear Readers,
This week marks the beginning of Black History Month that was initiated by Carter G. Woodson in 1926 and designated as an official month of celebration of Black history in 1976 by President Gerald Ford. February 3rd was the 155th Anniversary of the 15th Amendment which enfranchised Black men, though it would take the 1965 Voting Rights Act for the Amendment to be fully implemented. This week we also remember the birthdays of notable women leaders Rosa Parks, Representatives Ayanna Pressley & Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Alice Walker, who was the first Black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Carrie Battman writes in The New Yorker about another milestone to celebrate this week in her article Women Won the Grammys!
Legendary civil rights leader Rosa Parks who showed us all the value of direct action to challenge unjust laws and norms, painted by Melanie Humble
The Weekend Reading this week features articles on races to watch for women governors and mayors, the Belgian prime minister on the importance of gender quotas, a study of women Rep’s increased likelihood to mention their constituents, gender terminology bans, a piece on governance by Danielle Allen, the harassment women candidates face, the partisan breakdown of women state legislators, and a link to register for the 2025 Democracy Solutions Summit.
Challenges & Opportunities for Women Governors
Of our 12 women governors, six will leave office by 2027 due to term limits, that make upcoming elections all the more important for women to advance toward gender parity.
The seven women governors eligible to run for re-election in 2026 are Katie Hobbs (D, Arizona), Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R, Arkansas), Kim Reynolds (R, Iowa), Maura Healey (D, Massachusetts), Kelly Ayotte (R, New Hampshire), Kathy Hochul (D, New York) and Tina Kotek (D, Oregon). Those leaving office are Kate Ivey (R, Alabama), Laura Kelly (D, Kansas), Janet Mills (D, Maine), Gretchen Whitmer (D, Michigan), and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D, New Mexico. Earlier this month, South Dakota's Kristi Noem was replaced by Larry Rhoden after being confirmed as Homeland Security secretary.
Women have real chances to win both of 2025's gubernatorial elections. Virginia's open seat election is expected to pit Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D) against Lt. Governor Winsome Sears (R), with the winner becoming the state's first-ever woman governor. New Jersey has an open seat election where Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill is the leading woman candidate. Here are a few 2026 races to track:
- Alaska, where former Congresswoman Mary Peltola and Lt. Governor Nancy Dahlstrom are among potential candidates in an open seat race to be held with Alaska's innovative all-candidate primary and ranked choice voting system;
- California, where several women may run to replace term-limited Gavin Newsom, including potentially former vice-president Kamala Harris;
- Maine, where women may run in both major party primaries that feature ranked choice voting;
- Michigan, where Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson last week announced her bid and the GOP's 2022 nominee Tudor Dixon may run again.
- New Mexico, where former Congresswoman and cabinet secretary Deb Haaland is an early favorite - and would make New Mexico the first state to have three consecutive women governors.
Opportunities for Women Mayors in 2025
Women's leadership has seen its greatest progress in our cities but women still fall well short of parity in major city elections for mayor. This could be a big year for women. 2025 mayoral races to watch include these five featuring alternative voting methods:
- St. Louis (MN): Tishaura Jones is running for re-election this spring in a two-round runoff system that uses approval voting in the 1st round in March. Challengers include alderwoman Cara Spencer.
- Oakland (CA): This April, former Congresswoman Barbara Lee is running in a special election for mayor with ranked choice voting. A sponsor of the Ranked Choice Voting Act in Congress, Lee knows the system well.
- New York City (NY(: Under indictment, Eric Adams faces a large field of challengers in a June 24 primary with RCV. In 2021, Adams' 12% 1st round lead of 11.1% over Kathryn Garcia shrunk to just 0.8% in the final RCV round after Miley Wiley was eliminated. State Senator Jessica Ramos is the only woman running so far, but Attorney General Tish James is a possible candidate.
- Minneapolis (MN): City councilor Emiy Koski is among those who may take on incumbent Jacob Frey in a ranked choice voting election.
- Santa Fe (MN): Alan Webber won Santa Fe's first mayoral election with ranked choice voting in 2018 and may seek a third term this November. Announced candidates so far in what should be a hotly contested RCV election include women leaders JoAnne Vigil Cooper, Letitia Montoya, and Tarin Nix.
Belgian Prime Minister Supports Gender Quotas
Source: RepresentWomen
Beginning this year, only four of Belgium’s eleven ministers are women, and there are no women in any of the six possible leadership positions. Belgium has implemented gender quotas at the local level, but they are currently not in use in the Council of Ministers or standardized country-wide. Minister Vanessa Matz vocalized her support for gender quotas to ensure that there is fair representation for women across all levels of government, stating, “It's a step we have to take. You have to force it so that it happens naturally afterwards.” Read more about the systems used to elect women in Belgium and other European Union countries in our brief released in October 2024.
Maïthé Chini writes in The Brussels Times:
One of Belgium's new ministers, Vanessa Matz (Les Engagés), "does not agree" with the reduced presence of four women for 11 men in the new Federal Government.
The women nominated by the various parties in the 'Arizona' Government are "high-quality women" who "will be able to influence decisions," said Matz, who is the new Minister for Public Modernisation in charge of Public Enterprises.
However, the absence of women on the core cabinet (the PM and the five deputies is "not normal," she said on BelRTL. "The parties have not done their job."
Women Elected Officials Mention Local Constituents More Often in the House of Representatives
Political scientists Jaclyn Kaslovsky and Pamela Ban published a new study in the American Journal of Political Science, finding that women elected to the House of Representatives are more likely to mention their home districts when speaking on the House floor. This study was conducted by creating a glossary using House transcripts from 1999-2018 and searching for terms mentioning legislators’ hometowns and phrases like “my community” and “my constituents.” This trend was true for women in both political parties, but the gender gap was more significant for Democrats.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Chris Woolston writes in WashU:
In her Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in October, O’Brien said that women are underrepresented at every level of politics, from local to national. When women make it to higher office, she said, they tend to be more successful at making laws that help their constituents.
Kaslovsky agreed that the country would be better served if more women were elected. “Currently, women make up less than 30% of the U.S. House of Representatives, so there’s a lack of parity compared with the population,” she said.
OMB Calls for Removal of Language Encouraging “Gender Ideology” on Federal Websites
Source: Office of Personnel Management
Under a new directive from the administration, thousands of web pages have been scrubbed of language relating to gender, sexuality, equity, and diversity. Words like gender, female, women, and transgender are some of the terms being flagged or explicitly removed from public health websites and the National Science Foundation. This “Defending Women” executive order also calls for an end to federal funding of “gender ideology,” taking aim at transgender individuals. The directive also called for the review of programs, contracts, and grants that include gender, required federal forms to ask for sex instead of gender, and restricted transgender and nonbinary individuals from “intimate spaces” in federal buildings.
Danielle Kurtzleben from NPR writes:
In a Wednesday memo, Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Charles Ezell instructed agencies to comply by Friday at 5 p.m. ET with an executive order that says its aim is "defending women from gender ideology extremism."
That memo laid out "steps to end federal funding of gender ideology." Among those was the instruction to "Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology."
While "gender ideology" is not sharply defined, Trump and other transgender rights opponents have used the phrase to argue against the idea that people can identify with a gender that does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.
The Concerning Rise of Corporate Governance in Politics
Credit: Walden University
Director of Harvard University's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, FairVote board chair, and Democracy Solutions Summit alum, Danielle Allen’s article in The Atlantic highlights growing concerns about the privatization of political power. Elon Musk's control over global communications infrastructure and collaboration with the administration's Department of Government Efficiency raises alarm over potential "techno-feudalism." She warns that this trend could shift governance from democratic accountability to a corporate shareholder model, prioritizing capital interests over public wellbeing.
The principles of popular sovereignty were hard-won—principles that vest the ownership of government in we, the people, not they, the owners of memecoins. When early Americans before, during, and after the Revolution sought to make self-government durable, they circulated pamphlets that articulated the values and tools necessary for successful self-governance. The renovations we need will similarly depend on real understanding of self-government. I’ve been a civic educator my whole life, but now I see an even more urgent need to pick up the pace at which we spread the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and The Federalist Papers, as well as works that have updated those texts, to sharpen our collective understanding of what popular sovereignty requires.
After the British government first allowed the East India Company, traffickers in tea, to rule India, and then fell into a full fiscal entanglement with the company, Americans dumped the company’s tea in Boston Harbor. Maybe it’s time to dump Dogecoin.
Ending Harassment is Crucial to Building a Representative Government
Former Indianapolis City Hall. Photo credit: Arch Trio
Harassment remains a barrier for women in politics. Women in politics, including in Indiana, face heightened scrutiny, online abuse, and threats of violence. This harassment not only harms individuals but discourages talented women from entering public life, depriving policymaking of essential perspectives on policies that aid women, like healthcare, education, and paid family leave.
Angela Carr Klitzsch from the Indiana Capital Chronicle writes:
The statistics are alarming. Studies show that women in politics are disproportionately targeted by online abuse compared to their male counterparts. Harassment often focuses on gender, appearance, or personal life, rather than policy or qualifications, creating an additional mental and emotional burden for female leaders. For many, these attacks don’t stop at words. A 2022 survey by the Center for American Women and Politics found that 25% of women in public office reported threats or acts of violence…
When women are driven out of politics or never enter it in the first place, the consequences are far-reaching. Women bring unique perspectives to policymaking, often championing issues such as healthcare, education, and family leave that directly impact Hoosier families. Without diverse voices at the table, public policy risks becoming skewed, failing to reflect the needs and realities of half the population.
New Center for Women and Politics Data Shows Mixed Outcomes For Women in Politics
The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University released its 2025 rankings on women’s representation in state legislatures, revealing both progress and ongoing challenges. While 23 states saw increases in women’s representation, 27 states experienced no change or declines. Women state legislators are still significantly more likely to be Democrats though Republican women made notable gains in 2024, slightly narrowing the gap. Intentional efforts in recruitment, training, and candidate support are crucial for sustaining progress and strengthening women's political power.
Kelly Dittmar writes in Forbes:
The variance in women’s state legislative representation by state and party, as well as the mix of gains and losses resulting from election 2024, serve as reminders that progress for women in state legislatures is not inevitable. Successes in states like New Mexico and Nevada, among others, are a testament to the value of building targeted support infrastructures for women in politics. These should include women’s political organizations engaged in women candidate recruitment, training and support at the state legislative level.
But hurdles remain for women in politics, and party disparities in candidacy and gender-targeted resources make it less likely that women will see notable or widespread gains in years when Democratic successes are limited.
RepresentWomen’s Democracy Solutions Summit: March 4th thru 6th
Don’t forget to register for RepresentWomen’s Democracy Solutions Summit that will be held online March 4th - 6th from 3 to 5pm EST and will feature a terrific lineup of women speakers addressing solutions to the barriers women face as candidates and elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels of government.
Pictured with Meredith Sumpter, CEO of FairVote, Kelly & T Weymouth, & Rob Richie at the retirement party held this week for RepresentWomen’s terrific pro-bono partner at Hogan Lovells, T Weymouth. We are very grateful for his support over the many years.
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!
Cynthia Richie Terrell
P.S.
Credit: PBS Learning Media
From Frances Ellen Watkins Harper to Shirley Chisholm, Black women have consistently paved the way for progress, despite systemic obstacles. Their resilience and leadership continue to inspire movements today, as they demand not just inclusion but rightful leadership in shaping America's political future. This insightful article, authored by Tamaya Dennard, Marvelous Maeze, Victoria Pelletier, and Ashley Thurston, delves into the complexities of the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the deliberate exclusion of Black women from this pivotal moment in history. Read the full piece here.