The United States celebrates Park and Recreation Month in July. The Grand Canyon, pictured here, is one of America's 63 national parks and is considered one of the Wonders of the World.
Congratulations to WPLN board member Amy Whited and WPLN state partner Virginia Conservative Women's Coalition Co-Founder and President Julianne Condrey and Advisory Board Member KayAnn Schoeneman, who are all nominated for awards from Women in Government Relations. The winners will be announced in October -- best of luck to all of these women!
CBS NEWS | "Meet Mary Katharine Goddard — the only woman who "signed" the Declaration of Independence": "Mary Katharine Goddard is unfamiliar to many Americans, but her name sits on the Declaration of Independence alongside those of founding fathers like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. ... Those who signed it knew they were taking a risk that amounted to treason against the British empire if their side lost. At the bottom of the document is written 'Baltimore, in Maryland: Printed by Mary Katharine Goddard.' Goddard, who was working as printer at the time, voluntarily inscribed her full name on the document." Read more.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS | "We, the men? On the Founding Fathers’ exclusion of their wives, sisters, daughters and mothers": "Led by crusaders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, mid-19th-century American women would proliferate petitions for women’s equality, pen and print suffragist books and essays, convene pro-women assemblies, organize feminist boycotts and do much, much more. When they did, they would in fact brilliantly echo and adapt the very language of the Declaration of Independence in iconic statements such as the Seneca Falls Declaration of 1848." Read more.
HISTORY | "The women's suffrage movement started with a tea party": "... the Seneca Falls convention [on July 19 and 20, 1848] would draw hundreds of attendees and be remembered as the spark that kindled the American women’s movement. Few of the women had any public-speaking experience — women were discouraged and often completely barred from speaking in public — and the women were uncertain how to organize a convention. Despite their inexperience, they drafted an agenda and an organizing document, the Declaration of Sentiments, that would galvanize American women." Read more.
NBC SPORTS | "Meet the moms who have qualified for the U.S. Olympic team": "At the Tokyo Olympics, [Allyson] Felix and [Quanera] Hayes will be joined on the U.S. Olympic roster by at least ten other moms. One particularly notable stat: For three U.S. athletes – Allyson Felix, Diana Taurasi, and Mariel Zagunis – Tokyo will mark their fifth Olympics, but first as moms." Read more.
WALL STREET JOURNAL | "More Republican women plan runs for House, building on party’s 2020 wins": "More GOP women have announced plans to run for House seats in 2022 at this point than in any recent election cycle, according to Republican officials... This cycle, 127 Republican women already have indicated they plan to run for House seats, either filing with the Federal Election Commission or announcing plans publicly, the National Republican Congressional Committee told The Wall Street Journal’s Aaron Zitner. That’s more than double the 50 women at about this point in the 2020 cycle and a record for this point dating to 2010." Read more.
ReflectUS recently released a new report titled "Ensuring Success: What Happens After Women Win," which provides insights into the challenges that female political leaders face — and ways to address them.
"While [women's 2020 electoral] successes are to be commended, our country must also address the barriers women face once in elected positions. Emerging research shows that while women are more collaborative and reach across party lines to achieve legislative goals more often than men, they still face a range of barriers male officeholders do not experience."
Whether you're planning to run for office someday, currently serving in office, or working on a campaign, this report is a must-read. Click here to read the full report and to see ReflectUS' recommendations on how to handle the challenges that women face while governing.
READING | Grace & Steel: Dorothy, Barbara, Laura, and the Women of the Bush Dynasty, by J. Randy Taraborrelli: This book chronicles the lives of the women behind America's greatest political dynasty — from First Ladies Barbara and Laura Bush, to family matriarch Dorothy and the Bush twins Barbara and Jenna. Learn more.
WATCHING | Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, and Rachel Weisz: Black Widow is the second of Marvel's solo female superhero films (the first was 2019's Captain Marvel), and it was delayed three times because of the COVID-19 pandemic before being released on July 9 in theaters and on Disney+. The movie depicts the titular character Black Widow confronting her past, reuniting with her former makeshift family, and working to free brainwashed assassins. “It was wonderful to tell a story with three complicated, strong women,” said Rachel Weisz.Learn more.
LISTENING TO | NPR's Life Kit podcast, episode "What 'Likeability' Really Means In The Workplace" (June 22): According to the Life Kit episode description: "'Likeability' is a loaded word. And try as we might, none of us has full control over who likes us. Journalist and podcaster Alicia Menendez, author of The Likeability Trap, says who we like is shaped by who we are — and often, likeability is a way of shielding biases in the workplace." Learn more.
EXCITED FOR | New WPLN Facebook Lives: We're excited to announce that we're bringing back our WPLN Facebook Lives! Join us on July 26 at 12pm ET for a conversation with our interns about why WPLN's work to elect more women is important to them! Learn more. And please help us continue providing free training resources like Facebook Lives — support WPLN today!
This month, we're celebrating the following women trailblazers and leaders:
Yvonne B. Miller, educator and politician and the first Black woman to serve in the Virginia House and then both houses of the Virginia General Assembly (July 4)
Jessie Ackermann, women's rights activist and writer (July 4)
Henrietta Swan Leavitt, astronomer and "computer" who discovered the relation between the luminosity and the period of Cepheid variable stars (July 4)
Edmonia Lewis, sculptor and the first professional Black-Native American sculptor (July 4)
Margaret Walker, poet and writer whose award-winning poetry collection For My People made her the first Black woman to receive a national writing prize (July 7)
June Jordan, writer who was inducted on the Stonewall National Monument National LGBTQ Wall of Honor in 2019 (July 9)
Mildred Benson, journalist and children's books author who helped ghostwrite the Nancy Drew series (July 10)
Tillie Ehrlich-Weisberg Lewis, entrepreneur and the Associated Press' 1951 "Businesswoman of the Year" (July 13)
Ida B. Wells, investigative journalist, civil rights activist, and a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (July 16)
Margaret Brown, philanthropist (July 18)
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, medical physicist who became the second woman, and the first American woman, to win the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine (July 19)
Emma Lazarus, writer whose poem "The New Colossus" is inscribed onto the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty (July 22)
Vera Rubin, astronomer whose work provided evidence for the existence of dark matter (July 23)
Amelia Earhart, aviator who was the first woman aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (July 24)
Bella Abzug, lawyer and politician who represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives (July 24)
Lucy Burns, suffragist and women's rights advocate who co-founded the National Woman's Party and was arrested and sent to the Occoquan Workhouse as part of the Silent Sentinels in 1917 (July 28)
Mary Vaux Walcott, artist (July 31)
Stephanie Kwolek, chemist who invented Kevlar (July 31)
JULY 20 | Virginia Conservative Women's Coalition Candidate Mentorship Circle: Join Virginia Conservative Women's CoalitionTONIGHT for their July Candidate Mentorship Circle. For more information, and to register, email info@vaconservativewomen.com.
JULY 26 | WPLN Facebook Live with WPLN interns: Join us on July 26 at 12 pm ET for a conversation with our interns about why this work is important to them! Learn more.
AUGUST 5 | Colorado Women's Alliance event "Undecided About a COVID-19 Vaccination? Let's Have a Conversation!": Bring your own lunch and join our Colorado training partner Colorado Women's Alliance for this interactive conversation with expert panelists, including a PhRMA executive, a Colorado legislator, a family physician and a pharmacist. Learn more.
Support WPLN programs and resources by making a contribution today!
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.
Women’s Public Leadership Network (WPLN) educates, organizes, and inspires women to run for elected office, obtain political appointments, and become more involved in the political process across the United States.
Women who believe in commonsense, pragmatic public policy solutions are often missing in political and policy dialogue. WPLN offers tools and opportunities designed to equip women with the knowledge and resources they need, including easily accessible online content and access to a community of like-minded people who want to support them as they step up, engage in the political process, and lead.
Stay up to date with WPLN:
Women's Public Leadership Network, PO Box 723234, Atlanta, Georgia 31139
.png?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=unnamed%20(1).png)
.png?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=unnamed%20(2).png)
.png?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=unnamed%20(3).png)
.png?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=unnamed%20(4).png)
