July 2022 WPLN Newsletter

This month, WPLN hosted our State Partner Retreat in Tyson's Corner, Virginia. It was wonderful to reunite with women leaders from across the country and listen to their inspiring stories. We were honored to be joined by Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the first woman of color elected statewide in Virginia's history.

Our annual State Partner Retreat is an opportunity for us to bring together the women leaders from across the country running our State Partner organizations, as well as our supporters to hear about the current challenges and successful practices they are seeing in their states. Our State Partner Network of state-based, nonprofit organizations is doing the work on the ground to build a pipeline of diverse, effective public leaders. Learn more about our State Partner Network.

Click here to see the photos from the weekend in our Facebook group. (If you're not a member, click here to join!) Everyone enjoyed the chance to connect with so many women leaders — and that's more than evident in the photos!

Thank you to our sponsors who helped to make the event possible: 

• HBW Resources, LLC
• Sarver Strategies
• Texas Star Alliance
• Majority Strategies
• Dirigo Partners
• Advantage Capital
• ReflectUS
• University of San Francisco | MA in Public Leadership

And thank you to our annual sponsors:

• Google
• American Petroleum Institute
• Hess Corporation

We are beyond grateful for your support in empowering #WomenWhoLead!

POLITICO | "The GOP failed millennial moms like me. But it needs us now more than ever.": "When I became a mother, I saw the party's blind spots on family policy more clearly than ever. But I also saw an opportunity." Read more.

WASHINGTON POST | "This woman’s name appears on the Declaration of Independence. So why don’t we know her story?": "This Fourth of July, look closely at one of those printed copies of the Declaration of Independence. See it? The woman’s name at the bottom? It’s right there. Mary Katharine Goddard." Read more.

NISKANEN CENTER | "Women in (and out of) politics": "There are more women in office today than there were 10 years ago or 20 years ago, but not enormous gains. Part of why we see sort of a slow movement is that over time we’ve increasingly see women run almost exclusively in the Democratic Party and be very successful in being elected in the Democratic Party, particularly at the state and national level. The Republican Party has really lagged behind in putting women on the ballot. If we’re trying to get to a place where we’re going to have political parity and representation, women are just slightly over half of the population. If we were interested in political parity, one of the things that we would need is for the Republican Party to have a lot more women running on their ticket." Read more.

AL.com | "Katie Britt wins runoff, stands to become first woman elected senator in Alabama": "'[Electing more women[ seems to be part of a larger shift within the Republican party,' said Regina Wagner, professor of political science at the University of Alabama. 'Some of my own research has suggested that when voters are more accustomed to seeing women in positions of political power, they become more likely to elect more women in the future.'" Read more.

In a recent New York Times essay titled "How You Feel About Gender Roles Can Tell Us How You’ll Vote," Thomas Edsall examines how the gender gap alone fails to tell the full story about views toward gender roles:

Research by [University of Virginia political scientist Nicholas] Winter and other social scientists demonstrates that competing ideas about the roles of men and women, at home and at work, shape our political life. They do not set men against women as much as produce two opposing coalitions, each made up of both men and women.

The essay includes mention of a report by the Center for American Women and Politics titled "The Gender Gap Public Opinion."

Read more.

READING | The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates: Author Brené Brown says that Melinda Gates' book The Moment of Lift "is an urgent call to courage" and that it will be "one of those rare books that you carry in your heart and mind long after the last page." Learn more.

WATCHING | Ms. Marvel on Disney+: This miniseries is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and features the first Muslim superhero, a teenage girl who eventually develops her own superpowers after struggling to fit in. Learn more.

LISTENING TO | Trust Your Voice with Sylvie Légère podcast, episode "When to Say Yes, with Karen Wells": Trust Your Voice is hosted by The Policy Circle Co-Founder Sylvie Légère, and this episode features Karen Wells, CEO of Bridge Communities. In this episode, Sylvie and Karen discuss identifying what motivates you, building on your strengths, and stepping into new or different experiences. Learn more.

EXCITED FOR | The 2023 WPLN National Summit! Save the date for next year's National Summit, which will be held from April 28-30 in San Diego, California. Sign up here to receive updates!

• 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)
• June Jordan, writer who was inducted on the Stonewall National Monument National LGBTQ Wall of Honor in 2019 (July 9)
• Tillie Ehrlich-Weisberg Lewis, entrepreneur and the Associated Press' 1951 "Businesswoman of the Year" (July 13)
• Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a politician who represented Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives and who was the first Cuban-American elected to Congress and the first Republican woman elected to the House from Florida (July 15)
• 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 31 | Deadline to nominate a woman for Virginia Conservative Women's Coalition Virginia Women of Influence Awards: Our Virginia training partner Virginia Conservative Women's Coalition (VCWC) plans to honor 3 outstanding women within conservative politics in Virginia who exemplify strong leadership. Nominate a friend, a mentee, a mentor or a colleague today! The nominations period closes on July 31. Learn more.

AUGUST 2 | WPLN Facebook Live: Leadership at a Local Position — An Inside Look: Join us for a conversation with Tara Campbell, Councilwoman of Yorba Linda, CA and former Mayor who was the youngest woman to serve as mayor in California history! We'll discuss the importance of leadership in a local position, the struggles of the journey, and the balance required between home life and a professional career. Learn more.

AUGUST 31 | Deadline to apply for the Louisiana Women Lead Class Training Seminar: Whether you want to run for school board or the U.S. Senate, our Louisiana training partner Louisiana Women Lead can help you prepare for your run. The Lead Training will cover process; networking; marketing and media; public speaking; fundraising; and more! The application period for the Fall Class of 2022 closes on August 31. 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.