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 workplaces and within the non-public sector within the U.S. and world wide—with slightly gardening and goodwill blended in for refreshment!
We right here at RepresentWomen honor Cynthia Richie Terrell—the founder and government director of RepresentWomen—for her sixtieth birthday and the improbable work she does to attain parity on this political area. The common contributor behind this weekly column, Terrell is an outspoken advocate for revolutionary guidelines and techniques reforms to advance girls’s illustration and management in the US..
Help her by way of supporting our group as we proceed our fundraising initiative. Your generosity will help us in persevering with our mission of dismantling obstacles that impede girls’s skill to run for workplace and win.
Melinda French Gates as soon as stated, “A girl with a voice is, by definition, a powerful lady. By this definition, Cynthia Richie Terrell is a lady who makes use of her voice to amplify the energy of many ladies and their perception that we deserve equitable illustration.
Born a Quaker, Cynthia Richie Terrell understands our energy to alter the world. Cynthia carries out the traits of independence and boldness with an impressive power that shifts areas.
As we have a good time Cynthia’s birthday, we’ve got devoted this week’s installment of Weekend Studying to celebrating her work. We journey by way of her writings that show her coronary heart on this work, make a journey by way of reminiscence lane by way of her beloved footage, and, extra importantly, have interaction with our group by supporting our fundraising efforts.
The Start of This Column, Weekend Studying
Cynthia Richie Terrell curates an influential weekly publication, Weekend Studying, filled with information and insights that champion girls. Launched in 2014, it’s a platform for visionary girls, supportive allies, and journalists who produce impactful work.
Weekend Studying informs the general public and retains the RepresentWomen group engaged with crucial points central to their mission of reaching parity. The group collaborates to pick articles that align with our message and resonate with our viewers.
The Weekend Studying started on Oct. 9, 2014, when Cynthia and allies started collaborating to advance girls’s political illustration. The Weekend Studying was first fashioned as a listserv to share data on analysis, occasions and articles on methods to advance girls in politics. In 2018, RepresentWomen turned impartial, remodeling the listserv distribution into the present-day Weekend Studying on Girls’s Illustration.
Grants from The Democracy Fund helped develop Weekend Studying’s attain. In March 2020, Ms. writer Kathy Spillar reached out to see if the Weekend Studying might be printed on their web site. The Weekend Studying has been on-line on Ms. virtually each week now for 4 years. (Get Ms. delivered to your inbox and by no means miss a future installment.)
For the reason that weblog’s launch in November 2015, there have been 396 blogs written by Cynthia and printed on the RepresentWomen web site. It is usually shared on our social media accounts, and we e mail it to our supporters for engagement.
Thanks for becoming a member of Cynthia on this impactful journey by studying and interesting with Weekend Studying weekly.
It’s Time for a Lady President in the US
Cynthia’s Ms. article from final 12 months addresses the pressing want for a girl president in the US, emphasizing the significance of illustration and equality in management. Gender steadiness at each stage of presidency is crucial for real democracy, so it’s alarming that the U.S. has by no means elected a lady president.
All through our nation’s historical past, our authorities has been led by males. And people males—nonetheless succesful and galvanizing—have solely slowly and begrudgingly conceded energy to girls. We overlook typically how not too long ago, girls in America couldn’t vote, maintain a bank card, or have the suitable to their very own bodily autonomy. In truth, these primary human rights are apparently nonetheless up for debate throughout the halls of presidency.
We all know that the U.S. lags pitifully behind different nations in the case of girls in authorities. When the Worldwide Parliamentary Union measures the proportion of ladies in nationwide legislatures, the U.S. doesn’t rank within the prime 10. We don’t even rank within the prime 50. Based on our evaluation of the newest information, the U.S. stands at seventy fifth when it comes to girls’s illustration, effectively behind nations like Germany, Senegal, Bolivia, and New Zealand—all of which, not coincidentally, have additionally had feminine heads of state.
“Management will not be straightforward,” stated Laura Liswood, secretary common of the Council of Girls World Leaders. “But it surely offers you energy to alter issues, energy to make issues higher.”
When girls are in a position to tackle positions of management, all of us profit. Girls can solely be a part of the answer when they’re on the desk.
Reflecting on Kamala Harris’ Historic Vice Presidency and Electoral Reforms to Guarantee Equal Alternatives for Girls in Management
As we strategy the top of an election 12 months, let’s revisit an op-ed that Cynthia wrote. Revealed in Ms., the op-ed covers Kamala Harris as the primary lady, Black lady, and South Asian lady to be sworn in as vp of the US, shattering the glass ceiling within the government department.
Whereas it’s too early within the election 12 months to inform if one other lady might be sworn into the chief department in January, electoral reforms comparable to ranked-choice voting and gender-balanced appointments might guarantee equal alternatives for ladies sooner or later.
In her acceptance speech on November 7, 2020, then Vice President-Elect Harris stated of the ladies who paved the way in which, “I mirror on their wrestle, their willpower and the energy of their imaginative and prescient, to see what will be, unburdened by what has been. I stand on their shoulders.”
And of the ladies watching her historic success: “Whereas I stands out as the first lady on this workplace, I cannot be the final as a result of each little woman watching tonight sees that it is a nation of prospects.”
Going ahead, RepresentWomen desires to see many younger girls and ladies rise to the chief department, and Kamala Harris’s ascension is bound to assist encourage girls that it’s, the truth is, doable, however we don’t need one other centuries-long wrestle to make girls within the presidency and vice presidency not only a risk however a norm.
We want techniques methods and electoral reforms so extra girls aren’t simply impressed to run however can run in a system that accepts and bolsters them the way in which our present system does for males. A system that has practices and constructions in place so girls can serve safely, successfully, and simply so long as males.
Girls Deserve Equal Alternative to Run and Win
As we await the presidential election to start this November, allow us to mirror on an op-ed Cynthia shared in The Hill that also appears related immediately. She delves into the significance of giving girls equal alternatives to run and the way PACs proceed to assist incumbents, lessening the possibilities for ladies to win.
Cynthia references RepresentWomen’s 2020 PAC Report to convey the analysis behind the necessity for PACs to assist girls candidates. Though the report and numbers would possibly differ barely, the general message and urged options would possibly apply to our present election.
PACs focus most of their funds on incumbent candidates, compounding on the inherent benefits of incumbency. The structural benefits of incumbency, which may appear to be a gender-neutral drawback for non-incumbent candidates, is, in actuality, a default-male benefit since white males make up the majority of congressional incumbents.
PACs have change into central political gatekeepers within the American electoral system, and due to their place, they will have a profound affect on girls’s political illustration.
Open seat and challenger candidates funded by EMILY’s Record had a better success price than Democratic girls total throughout the 2018 cycle, additional illustrating the ability PACs can have in endorsing and funding candidates. With the assistance of EMILY’s Record, the variety of girls within the Democratic Caucus continues to extend steadily. In distinction, the variety of girls within the Republican Caucus fell to a 25-year low after the 2018 election.
Till we deal with the systemic and institutional obstacles girls face in politics, our nation by no means can have a very consultant Congress, and ladies will proceed to scramble to safe their seats on the desk.
thirtieth Anniversary of Electoral Reform Triumph in New Zealand and the Push for Change in U.S. Politics
In February of this 12 months, Cynthia wrote an op-ed for Ms., reflecting on the thirtieth anniversary of New Zealand’s adoption of the “blended member proportional system” (MMP), which changed the winner-take-all system beforehand used. Regardless of preliminary challenges, New Zealand efficiently transitioned to MMP, leading to excessive voter turnout, elevated accountability for important events, and improved illustration for ladies and indigenous teams.
Classes from New Zealand’s success will be utilized to electoral reform efforts in the US.
Final month, Representatives Don Beyer and Jamie Raskin reintroduced the Honest Illustration Act in Congress. If you need a more healthy and consultant democracy in the US, contact your representatives!
New Zealand was seemingly an inconceivable place to win reform. It was the world’s most quintessentially winner-take-all democracy – one with only a single nationwide chamber of 99 legislators, elected by plurality, “first previous the publish” voting in single-member districts. Minor events couldn’t get traction, and the individuals lacked a citizen initiative. The key get together successful essentially the most seats earned absolute energy and usually would have little incentive to alter the electoral guidelines. Even so, New Zealand modified to a completely proportional system in 1993. In 2011, voters comfortably retained MMP, and it’s now basically settled legislation.
Our nationwide electoral guidelines are restricted in providing the alternatives voters wish to see, fluidly reflecting who we’re as a individuals and creating incentives for tackling issues collectively moderately than seeing each concern as a political weapon to get an edge. Regardless of heroic reform efforts, gerrymandering runs rampant, and voters are more and more caught in hyperpartisan camps that end in comparatively slight partisan benefits for one main get together in a district, turning into a virtually insurmountable impediment to two-party competitors, not to mention giving independents and minor events any likelihood.
The Overturning of Roe and How Girls Are Harm When They Are Not in Energy
For the reason that overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion rights have been stripped for a lot of American girls, with the newest case being in Florida.
Let’s revisit a piece Cynthia wrote for Ms. on how abortion bans are a results of an unrepresentative democracy. Regardless of widespread assist for abortion rights amongst People, state legislatures lack various illustration, resulting in potential bans on abortion with out Roe. Structural obstacles comparable to underfunding girls candidates and winner-take-all elections contribute to the gender imbalance in political management.
On common, girls maintain simply 31 % of seats in state legislatures. There are solely 15 girls (11 Democrats and 4 Republicans) who function president or president pro-tem of state senates, and solely six girls (5 Democrats, one Republican) function audio system of statehouses.
RepresentWomen’s 2021 Gender Parity Index discovered that over half of states (30) obtain a D grade or worse for gender steadiness, which means that illustration ranges between 0-25 % for over half the nation. Illustration is even worse for ladies of shade: Solely 9 % of state legislators are girls of shade.
Abortion bans should not widespread: 80 % of People assist abortion in all or most instances, and 65 % of People suppose the Supreme Court docket ought to reject the Texas abortion legislation. Which means that, though it has change into an intense partisan concern, many conservatives assist the suitable to decide on. Conservative girls know what it’s wish to face conditions of rape and extreme well being dangers throughout being pregnant, and the overwhelming majority do need their daughters and all girls to have choices.
What Are Your Favourite Hobbies?
Final week, we requested leaders to rank their favourite actions in D.C. You all voted for visiting the Museum for Girls within the Arts!
A lot of you understand Cynthia as this fearless chief who fights for ladies’s political energy. When she’s not working to repair our democracy, she enjoys many actions. The RepresentWomen group additionally is aware of her for her fondness for baking, knitting, and extra! Which considered one of Cynthia’s hobbies do you like? Tell us with this ranked-choice voting ballot!
A 60-12 months Legacy of Combating for Girls’s Illustration
Three A long time of FairVote
Over 30 years in the past, Cynthia co-founded FairVote together with her husband and reform work accomplice, Rob Richie.
After years of engaged on the frontlines in politics, their work culminated in them coming collectively to type this group that champions electoral reforms that amplify the varied voices of voters. Cynthia and Rob have labored to make sure the world experiences a fairer democracy, with the understanding that each particular person is empowered by their vote and deserves an opportunity to make use of it successfully. Each energetic within the Quaker neighborhood, Cynthia and Rob have a ardour for working for individuals and proceed to reach the reform area.
Their work has continued by way of the years and contributed to quite a few reform successes nationwide and overseas. They’ve written numerous essays, traveled to many conferences, and served as panelists, sharing their experience on methods to make sure a fairer democracy.
This June, Cynthia and Rob might be honored for his or her work within the reform area on the FairVote Awards. As founding father of the group, Rob needed to host a ceremony that celebrated the work of thought leaders within the democracy reform area. Rob and Cynthia might be honored this 12 months for many years of service to FairVote and the democracy reform motion. Help their work and the historical past of FairVote by attending this dynamic occasion.
Up subsequent:
U.S. democracy is at a harmful inflection level—from the demise of abortion rights, to a scarcity 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 subsequent 50 years. In flip, we want your assist, Help Ms. immediately 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 in your loyalty and ferocity.
