Weekend Studying on Girls’s Illustration is a compilation of tales about girls’s illustration in politics, on boards, in sports activities and leisure, in judicial places of work and within the personal sector within the U.S. and world wide—with slightly gardening and goodwill blended in for refreshment!
This previous weekend, I used to be full of renewed optimism for our democracy.
President Biden handed the torch to Vice President Harris. Now, it’s her flip to make historical past! Since being endorsed by President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris has acquired endorsements from high-ranking Democratic celebration officers like Nancy Pelosi, raised record-breaking quantities of cash, and generated over 38,000 voter registrations.
A July ranked-choice voting ballot from FairVote positioned Vice President Harris on the high of potential candidates to succeed President Biden, which nonetheless holds in the present day. In my newest op-ed, I make the case for her as the most effective candidate to compete towards former President Trump.
She will construct upon Biden’s accomplishments, advocate for fixing democracy moderately than tearing it down, and embody a celebration that, a century after girls earned suffrage, continues to champion the aspirations and objectives of most ladies.
As we get able to launch the outcomes of our 2024 Gender Parity Index subsequent Tuesday, I’m excited and hopeful to see how this historic nomination impacts down-ballot elections throughout the nation.
This week, we honor the legacy of Consultant Sheila Jackson Lee; discover how ranked-choice voting results in electoral success for girls and folks of coloration, and uncover how the Olympics are supporting athletes with households. We additionally spotlight Alice Milliat, a pioneer who championed gender equality within the Olympics. As we put together for the opening evening of the Video games, don’t overlook to take part in our Olympic-inspired RCV ballot.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Dies at 74, Leaving a Legacy of Advocacy and Service for All
This previous week, longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) died on the age of 74 after a protracted battle with pancreatic most cancers. She is widely known for her management in defending girls from home violence and recognizing Juneteenth as a nationwide vacation.
Sheila Jackson Lee’s initiatives for girls will stay important. We honor her as a girl in politics who upheld constitutional freedoms for everybody.
PBS Information experiences:
The Democrat had represented her Houston-based district and the nation’s fourth-largest metropolis since 1995. She had beforehand had breast most cancers and introduced the pancreatic most cancers prognosis on June 2.
“The highway forward won’t be simple, however I stand in religion that God will strengthen me,” Jackson Lee stated in a press release then.
Jackson Lee was “a towering determine in our politics,” President Joe Biden stated in a press release Saturday. “At all times fearless, she spoke fact to energy and represented the ability of the individuals of her district in Houston with dignity and beauty.”
Biden stated Jackson Lee’s spirit was unbreakable.
Kamala Harris-Impressed Spotify Playlist
Rejoice Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic endorsement with our latest playlist! Let the music carry you thru this historic second for girls.
Specialists Present Working Group That Ranked-Alternative Voting Results in Electoral Success For Girls, Folks Of Colour
Final week, RepresentWomen’s partnerships director Katie Usalis and nationwide partnerships supervisor Victoria Pelletier offered to the Connecticut legislature as a part of Governor Ed Lamont’s working group exploring the implementation of ranked-choice voting in Connecticut. Melissa Mark-Viverito of New Majority NYC and NYC Metropolis Council member Amanda Farías additionally mentioned how ranked-choice voting positively affected advances for girls of their respective communities.
As of 2023, Connecticut had a Gender Parity Index rating of 24.4 and ranked twenty seventh within the nation. Supporting ranked-choice voting is one method to reform our electoral system and assist elect candidates who higher replicate the help of most voters, particularly girls, and candidates of coloration.
Jamil Ragland writes:
Portland accepted ranked-choice voting for all municipal elections in 2020. Previous to the brand new voting system, Portland had three girls on its nine-person metropolis council. After the primary election, when ranked-choice voting was easy, that quantity doubled to 6 girls, stated Nationwide Partnerships Supervisor Victoria Pelletier:
“[The council] proper now’s women-led for the primary time in our metropolis’s historical past,” she stated. “Each district now we have is represented by a girl and final yr, we had our first all-women committee. Most of us received our races towards incumbents or others who ran earlier than up to now. Ranked selection voting has actually helped the council diversify, as we now have extra girls of coloration, and it’s been an enormous profit for our metropolis in getting extra first-time candidates, extra individuals who need to assist their group who don’t appear like what you’d consider as a typical elected official turn into elected.”
Bringing Ranked-Alternative Voting to the Nation’s Capital
This week I used to be honored to face alongside D.C. ranked-choice voting advocates Bri McGowan and D.C. Council member Christina Henderson at a fundraiser for Make All Votes Depend DC and Initiative 83, which might enfranchise unbiased voters in Washington, D.C., and convey ranked-choice voting to the nation’s capital.
Paris Olympics Introduces First-Ever Nursery for Mother or father Athletes
For the primary time in historical past, dad or mum athletes competing within the Olympics now have entry to a nursery within the Olympic Village. The house is meant to permit athletes to spend time with their kids and contains personal breastfeeding areas. French Olympic judo champion Clarisse Agbegnenou championed this new undertaking.
In contrast to the Olympics (which achieved gender steadiness for the primary time), most ladies in elected positions lack the assets to serve successfully and sustainably. Our ally, Vote Mama, performs an important position in highlighting the challenges girls and fogeys face.
Hiroki Noda from Kyodo Information experiences:
The Worldwide Olympic Committee stated in March that dad or mum athletes should discover a steadiness between making ready for his or her large moments and caring for his or her kids.
“Many athletes are balancing their sporting careers and household. I understand how this feels as I competed on the 2014 Olympic Winter Video games as a mom with a younger baby,” stated Emma Terho, chair of the IOC Athletes’ Fee.
The nursery will be booked on-line for a personal or shared time slot between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
“Being pregnant and motherhood are a pure path in life, and it doesn’t should imply a profession finish for feminine athletes,” added Terho, a former captain of the Finnish girls’s ice hockey crew.
Have to Hear from a Lady Democracy Chief? Strive RepresentWomen’s Listing for Political Specialists
Do you know that RepresentWomen has a listing of gifted girls whose occupation focuses on increasing democracy? This primary-of-its-kind useful resource, the Girls Specialists in Democracy Listing, is designed to assist organizations and media retailers join with girls working in politics to make sure girls are pretty represented in important conversations on the state of our democracy.
We created the listing proper after the 2023 Democracy Options Summit, at which democracy consultants mentioned subjects corresponding to ranked selection voting, electing the primary feminine president, and international options to enhance gender steadiness internationally. Full recordings of previous Summits can be found on our YouTube web page.
Kemira Mulholland and Livia Follet report:
“We noticed a necessity, and we met it. Our ever-growing Girls Specialists in Democracy Listing contains over 100 girls consultants in democracy, starting from lecturers to elected officers who, collectively, converse 11 languages. Now, there isn’t a excuse for all-male panels. Democracy wants girls on the desk, now greater than ever,” stated Katie Usalis, partnerships director at RepresentWomen.
Alice Milliat’s 1922 Girls’s Olympics: Pioneering Gender Equality in Sports activities
The 2024 Olympics open in Paris on Friday. Whereas the Video games have showcased many good girls athletes, girls had been initially excluded. Alice Milliat organized the primary Girls’s Olympics in Paris, bringing collectively 77 girls athletes to compete in observe and subject. Regardless of resistance from the male-dominated Olympic group, Milliat’s occasion made a daring assertion for gender equality in sports activities. Her legacy is acknowledged as a pivotal drive in gender equality in sports activities, inspiring continued efforts for steadiness in athletics.
John Department from The New York Instances experiences:
It was 1922, two years earlier than the final time the Olympics had been held in Paris. On a heat August day, about 20,000 individuals got here to Pershing Stadium to look at 77 athletes in observe and subject, together with a crew observe and subject athletes, together with United States crew data. There have been 27 journalists and information protection world wide.
And firstly, a 38-year-old lady named Alice Milliat welcomed the world to Paris. She was the founding father of the Worldwide Girls’s Sports activities Federation, identified in her native France because the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale.
Each competitor that day was a girl…
Milliat was making a press release that echoes in the present day. The male-dominated world of the mainline Olympics, busy making ready for the Paris Video games of 1924, ignored the 1922 occasion, apart from to complain about Milliat’s unauthorized use of “Olympics.” They dismissed the rising concept that ladies ought to compete in any respect.
Which Olympic Sport Are You Most Excited to Watch in Paris?
Solid your vote on this week’s ranked-choice voting ballot!
Up subsequent:
U.S. democracy is at a harmful inflection level—from the demise of abortion rights, to an absence of pay fairness and parental go away, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and assaults on trans well being. Left unchecked, these crises will result in wider gaps in political participation and illustration. For 50 years, Ms. has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Modification, and centering the tales of these most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we’re redoubling our dedication for the following 50 years. In flip, we’d like your assist, Assist Ms. in the present day with a donation—any quantity that’s significant to you. For as little as $5 every month, you’ll obtain the print journal together with our e-newsletters, motion alerts, and invites to Ms. Studios occasions and podcasts. We’re grateful to your loyalty and ferocity.
