December 2021 WPLN Newsletter

Dear friend, 

As another year comes to a close, we at WPLN are reminded of how grateful we are to have you as part of our growing network. Without your interest, support, action, and leadership in your community, we would not be where we are today. 

We hope to see you in 2022, whether at our first-ever Summit in February or through one of our state partners' training events across the country. As always, we want to hear from you any suggestions you have for programming to serve women in your state. 

On behalf of the entire WPLN team, best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season! 

Onward,

Larissa

WPLN President and Co-Founder

ICYMI, we've released the agenda for our inaugural National Summit! Check out the agenda here. Don't miss your opportunity to join us in New Orleans in February -- buy your ticket now! And our discounted room block expires on January 3, so register and secure your room today!

On December 7, WPLN's Rankin Circle hosted Stacy Schuster (Executive Director of Women for a Stronger New Jersey) and Amanda Iovino (Executive Director of the Virginia Conservative Women's Coalition) to discuss the recent 2021 elections and the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. Rankin Circle members get access to exclusive updates and insights, invitations to quarterly events with VIPs, and other dedicated opportunities to learn from current elected officials and meet rising stars in our network. Become a Rankin Circle member.

WPLN and the Rainey Center held the fourth session in our Legislative Series on December 17! Attendees heard from the American Farm Bureau Federation on the most critical issues facing the agriculture industry and how it's impacting communities. These events are open to state legislators and their staff and are free to attend. Email hello@womenspublicleadership.net for more information.

Looking for last-minute gifts? Shop Amazon using our AmazonSmile link (or choose Women's Public Leadership Network as your charity in AmazonSmile), and Amazon will donate to WPLN with every purchase you make, at no cost to you! Or shop our store for empowering apparel!

POLITICO | "‘You are mommy tracked to the billionth degree’ -- Women are more likely to want to work remotely. But what if it ends up working against them?": "There is no consensus on what workplaces will look like next year, in five years’ time, or in the more distant future. We can’t know whether most offices will revert to their pre-pandemic rules, requiring Monday through Friday attendance from most employees. Given the long-term trend toward working from home, this seems unlikely, even if most white-collar workplaces don’t also become fully remote. What is clear is that employers now have an opportunity to build a new workplace model that doesn’t leave women behind the way the old one did — but only if they’re deliberate about building it. Ambition and caregiving responsibilities, after all, are not mutually exclusive. There are plenty of people — especially women — with both." Read more.

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW | "Achieving gender balance at all levels of your company": "The report underscores the fact that career advancement, rather than recruitment, is where many companies need to target their efforts to further gender equity in their organization. While efforts to diversify the “pipeline” remain important, especially in industries like tech and finance, if companies are not able to develop and promote the women they hire, it will be very difficult for them to reach gender parity, or anything close to it, at senior levels." Read more.

WASHINGTON POST | "Republicans are becoming more diverse. That’s a great thing": "It’s long been fashionable to denigrate the GOP as the party of old, White men. The demographic is still overrepresented among party officeholders, but that’s fast changing. It won’t take many more elections for the party to look much more like America — and likely get a lot more Americans’ votes as a result." Read more.

As people like you know, ensuring that women are included at decision-making tables and that women's voices are heard is of utmost importance. Just as important, though, is women's financial independence. With 2022 approaching -- meaning not just a new year but also new retirement contribution limits (as set by the IRS) -- we wanted to share this CNBC article (titled "Women and men should save differently for retirement — here’s why") to help equip women with the knowledge they need, since studies show that women typically end up saving less for retirement than men and thus should plan to save differently than men:

"For women, saving for retirement can be tough when the motherhood penalty impacts both their lifetime earnings and their retirement savings. Saving for retirement can be a daunting task for most people, especially if you’re told you need to front load your contributions early in life and invest for a longer time horizon. However, for women it may be essential to start saving as much and as early as possible to avoid running out of retirement savings later in life."

Read more.

READING | An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo: Our fellow ReflectUS coalition member RepresentWomen recommends this volume of poetry from Joy Harjo, the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, calling it wise, powerful, and stunning. Learn more. 

WATCHING | King Richard, a biographical drama about Richard Williams, the father and coach of professional tennis players Venus and Serena Williams: With Venus and Serena serving as executive producers, this film follows the sisters and their father as he works to turn them into professional tennis players. One thing that stands out is the important and necessary role that men play in empowering women -- which starts with recognizing their value and raising them to be confident. Learn more.

LISTENING TO | A Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP) panel, that includes Women for a Stronger New Jersey: After releasing the latest report in CAWP's Money, Women, and Politics series, titled "Gender Gap in Political Donations," CAWP hosted a panel discussion on why men out-give women in state elections and why women should give more. Learn more.

EXCITED FOR | The chance to recharge before a busy 2022: After another unusual year in 2021, we're gearing up to hit the ground running in 2022. We'll begin 2022 by hosting our inaugural National Summit in February, and we're already hard at work to develop and coalesce the resources that women like you need in order to run for office. Women keep breaking glass ceilings, and we're excited to break even more next year!

• Deb Haaland, one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress who serves as Secretary of the Interior, making her the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary (December 2)
• Mary Frances Thompson ("Te Ata Fisher"), actress, interpreter, and citizen of the Chickasaw Nation (December 3)
• Ellen Swallow Richards, engineer, environmentalist, and the first woman in America accepted to any school of science and technology (December 3)
• Jeanne Manford, teacher who co-founded the support group organization Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (December 4)
• Patsy Mink, the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress and the first woman elected to Congress from Hawaii (December 6)
• Jane Swisshelm, suffragist and the first woman reporter admitted to the reporters gallery of the House of Representatives (December 6)
• Libbie Hyman, zoologist (December 6)
• Susan Collins, politician who represents Maine in the U.S. Senate and is the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate (December 7)
• Julia Robinson, mathematician who was the first woman mathematician to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the first woman to be elected president of the American Mathematical Society (December 8)
• Grace Hopper, computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral (December 9)
• Angie Turner King, mathematician who taught NASA employee Katherine Johnson (December 9)
• Emily Dickinson, poet (December 10)
• Annie Jump Cannon, astronomer (December 11)
• Ella Baker, civil rights activist and leader (December 13)
• Margaret Chase Smith, politician who represented Maine, was the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress, the first woman to represent Maine in Congress, and was the first Republican woman to be nominated for the presidency (December 14)
• Margaret Mead, anthropologist (December 16)
• Harriet Taylor Upton, suffragist, activist, and the first woman to serve as vice-chairman of the Republican National Committee (December 17)
• Sarah Breedlove ("Madam C.J. Walker"), businesswoman whose business line of hair and beauty products for black women made her the wealthiest black American businesswoman and wealthiest self-made American woman in her lifetime (December 23)
• Marsha Gomez, activist and sculptor (December 24)
• Clara Barton, nurse who founded the American Red Cross (December 25)
• Genevieve "Audrey" Wagner, baseball player, pilot, and doctor (December 27)
• Burnita Matthews, suffragist and the first woman appointed to serve on a United States District Court (December 28)
• Thea Bowman, nun and the first black American woman to receive an honorary Doctorate in Religion from Boston College (December 29)

FEBRUARY 4 and 5 | WPLN Inaugural National Summit: WPLN is holding its inaugural National Summit in New Orleans! Our summit is designed for women from across the country who are engaging at any stage of the political process. Learn more.

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Women’s Public Leadership Network (WPLN) is a non-profit organization organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent provided by law.