Women’s autonomy over their land, labor and lives has long been treated as a threat. As we approach another Election Week, women again stand at the threshold between what is and what could be.
Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!
Milestones for notable women this week include birthdays for: Sylvia Plath (American poet and novelist), Lori Trahan (U.S. representative), Cameryn Chan (RepresentWomen alum), Julia Roberts (actor), Teresa Vilmain (political consultant and my first boss), Victoria Pelletier (RepresentWomen’s national partnerships manager), Molly Bean Hayes, Marcia Fudge (former secretary of Housing and Urban Development), Judi Chamberlin (Psychiatric Survivors Movement activist), Martha Jefferson (former first lady), Nastia Liukin (Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics), Irma S. Rombauer (American cookbook author), Juliette Gordon Low (founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA), Melissa Richmond (former vice president of Running Start), Maria Salazar (U.S. representative), and Rose Elizabeth Bird (first woman in California to hold a Cabinet position as secretary of agriculture).
From Witches to Voters: Women Reclaim Power at the Ballot Box
As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, I always find myself reflecting on rituals that mark this season of change.
When my children were young, Halloween meant late nights of sewing costumes at the kitchen table and watching their imaginations take shape. One year, my two daughters went dressed in colonial garb; another year all three of them—my son included—went as Madeline, the fearless little girl from the storybook who led with curiosity and courage.
Watching them, I remember thinking how natural it is for young children, especially young girls, to believe they can transform—to step boldly into whoever they want to be. That sense of possibility, of becoming, is at the heart of this season and of so many stories about women’s power.
That spirit of transformation isn’t new. Long before Halloween became a night of costumes and candy, it was Samhain, a Celtic festival that marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter’s half dark.
As a Quaker, I’ve always felt an affinity with this season’s rhythm of reflection; a reminder that endings and beginnings are one and the same.
A friend from Beccles Quaker Meeting once wrote, “In autumn, trees show us how to let go beautifully”—a truth that feels just as relevant in our personal lives as it does in the systems that shape our society.
… I remember thinking how natural it is for young children, especially young girls, to believe they can transform—to step boldly into whoever they want to be.
Samhain, the historical basis of what is now Halloween, carried that same awareness: a time when communities gathered together to honor what had ended, to prepare for what was to come and to find renewal in the act of release. At the heart of those gatherings were women: healers, midwives and keepers of ritual knowledge who understood the earth’s cycles and the balance of life and death.
The women’s authority came not from conquest or wealth but from connection to nature, to community and to one another. When patriarchal religions spread across Europe, that spiritual authority became a threat. The same women who once tended fires and herbs were recast as heretics and witches. Power rooted in intuition and care was reframed as dangerous. The witch became a weapon used to undermine women’s independence, intellect and leadership.
When I think about the women once persecuted as witches, their stories feel closer than history books suggest. My husband’s great-grandmother many generations removed, Susannah North Martin, was hanged in 1692 in Essex, Mass., during the Salem witch trials—accused not of sorcery, but of defiance. A widow who refused to surrender her property, she was punished for her independence and strength.
Her story is one of the countless others that remind us of how women’s autonomy over their land, labor and lives has long been treated as a threat. Yet every generation of women who refused to yield carried forward the quiet revolution/ Power shared is power multiplied.
But here’s what history so often forgets: The witch was never the villain. She was the prototype for women’s power.
As one modern refrain reminds us, “We are the granddaughters of the witches you could not burn.” First popularized during the women’s rights movements of the 1970s, captured a growing sense of reclamation: a recognition that the same qualities once punished in women were also the source of their strength. It reflects both defiance and continuity, as well as the enduring wisdom of women despite centuries of suppression.
That same current—the reclaiming of agency and voice—runs through our history and into this moment.
As we approach another Election Week, women once again stand at the threshold between what is and what could be. Across the country, women are poised to make history. In Virginia, voters will elect the state’s first woman governor, and possibly the nation’s first Black woman governor. In New Jersey, a woman veteran may soon become the state’s first woman governor from the Democratic party, as polls place her ahead by eight percentage points, as of the end of this week. These are milestones worth celebrating, but they also remind us that women’s leadership is not the exception; it is essential.
And in 14 cities across the country, voters will cast their ballots in elections using ranked-choice voting, which could help make milestones for women far more common. Ranked-choice voting is a system designed to reflect the full range of voter preferences rather than just the loudest voices. As FairVote’s new analysis shows, these elections are part of a growing movement to build campaigns that prize collaboration over division and demonstrate, time and again, that when we redesign the rules, representation follows.
So this Halloween, as we remember the women who were once feared for their strength, we can also honor what they symbolize: courage in the face of control, wisdom in the face of fear and an enduring belief that power shared is power multiplied.
Because the story of the witch was never about superstition, it was about agency—a woman’s right to claim her knowledge, her voice and her place in the world.
Next week, voters across the country will have an opportunity to do the same: to choose leaders and systems that amplify women’s voices, strengthen collaboration and move us closer to a democracy built not to hoard power, but to share it.
Women Could Sweep 2025 Governor Elections in New Jersey and Virginia
If current polling holds, Abigail Spanberger is poised to become Virginia’s first woman governor, while Mikie Sherrill could soon make history as New Jersey’s second. In Virginia, Ghazala Hashmi is favored to be elected as the state’s second woman lieutenant governor, following Winsome Earle-Sears, the current Republican lieutenant governor now running for governor against Spanberger.
Earlier this month, The New York Times profiled both races following a joint virtual appearance by Spanberger and Sherrill—two women leading in states that have never before elected women from their respective parties to the governor’s mansion.
Candidates from New Jersey and Virginia rarely join forces; the states are very different politically, and races for governor are generally much more locally focused than elections for Congress.
But Ms. Sherrill and Ms. Spanberger have a long and intertwined relationship. Both elected amid the Democratic wave in 2018, they were part of a group of first-time female candidates with national security backgrounds who flipped Republican districts. They called themselves the Badasses and formed a bloc of relatively moderate Democrats in Congress. Ms. Sherrill and Ms. Spanberger were roommates while in Washington and still talk regularly.
Wednesday’s event comes as both states are in the final stretch of their early voting, with both seeing steady turnout indicative of high voter engagement for the off-year elections.
CAWP Reviews Women Candidates in Legislative Races in New Jersey and Virginia
While the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey are drawing national attention, representation at the state legislative level is just as crucial to advancing gender-balanced governance. As RepresentWomen’s research continues to show, progress toward parity depends not only on who runs, but also on the systems that shape how campaigns are financed, how districts are drawn, and how votes are counted.
The Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP) issued new data this week that captures how women are faring in this year’s state legislative contests:
New Jersey
- Women currently hold 31 (25D, 6R) of 80 seats in the New Jersey General Assembly.
- Women are 55 of 155 (35.5 percent) major-party nominees selected for Assembly in New Jersey, including 34 of 80 (42.5 percent) Democrats and 21 of 75 (28.0 percent) Republicans. This is not a record high.
- Of these, 27 (21D, 6R) are incumbents, 26 (12D, 14R) are running as challengers, and 2 (1D, 1R) are running for open seats.
- The record number of women winners in Assembly races is 31, set in 2023.
- Forty (32D, 8R) women currently serve in the New Jersey Legislature (Assembly and Senate combined); 9 (7D, 2R) women serve in the Senate. The record for women serving is 43, set in 2023.
- New Jersey currently ranks 27th in CAWP’s rankings of states by women’s representation in state legislatures.
Virginia
- Women currently hold 34 (27D, 7R) of 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates.
- Women are a record 75 of 184 (40.8 percent) major-party nominees for the House of Delegates in Virginia, including 56 of 99 (56.6 percent) Democrats and 19 of 85 (22.4 percent) Republicans. This beats the record of 72 set in the 2021 election.
- Of these, 34 (27D, 7R) are incumbents, 37 (26D, 11R) are running as challengers, and 4 (3D, 1R) are running for open seats.
- The record number of women winners in House of Delegates races is 35, set in 2021.
- A record 49 (38D, 11R) women currently serve in the Virginia General Assembly (comprising the House and Senate combined); 15 (11D, 4R) women serve in the Senate, including Ghazala Hashmi, who is running for lieutenant governor.
- Virginia currently ranks 23rd in CAWP’s rankings of states by women’s representation in state legislatures.
These numbers underscore a familiar truth: Representation rises where opportunity expands. When systems are designed to lower barriers—from fairer maps and family-friendly legislatures to inclusive election models like ranked-choice voting—more women run and lead.
Women Poised for Gains in City Elections Across the USA
While gubernatorial races often capture national headlines, local elections are where the next generation of leadership and innovation in democracy takes shape. RepresentWomen is closely following city-level elections, drawing on the excellent guide to the 2025 elections from Bolts magazine and ongoing coverage at Ballotpedia. These races reflect how women, reformers, and voters across the country are redefining the rules of engagement in local politics. Here’s a sampling of local races we will be following:
- Boston mayoral election: Michelle Wu dominated her nonpartisan primary in September and now is uncontested as she seeks a second term. Her re-election underscores how once “firsts” can become fixtures when systems evolve to sustain women’s leadership.
- Detroit mayoral election: Mary Sheffield had a big lead in her nonpartisan primary and is poised to be Detroit’s first-ever woman mayor. This is a milestone decades in the making for a city long defined by powerful women organizers.
- Seattle mayoral election: Katie Wilson had a big lead in the nonpartisan primary, but is in a tight race with incumbent Bruce Harrell in the mayoral election in Seattle, Wash.
- New York City Council: The combination of ranked-choice voting, term limits and public finance resulted in a sea change for women on the New York City Council. The current elections look likely to sustain the super-majority of women on the 51-seat council, up from just 13 women before the City’s first RCV elections. Five women are vying for the powerful Speaker role, demonstrating that structural reforms can not only shift outcomes but also entire power dynamics.
- Open mayoral seats with ranked-choice voting in Fort Collins, Colo., and Santa Fe, N.M.: Ranked-choice voting is likely to play a key role in open-seat elections with a mix of men and women candidates seeking to fill open seats for mayor in Fort Collins, Colo. and Santa Fe, N.M. Ranked-choice voting is featured in November elections in cities including Minneapolis, Minn., St. Paul, Minn., Cambridge, Mass., and many others.
- Miami mayoral election: Miami, Fla. includes Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins in a contested mayoral election.
- Jersey City mayoral election: City council president Joyce Waterman is among seven candidates running for mayor in Jersey City, N.J..
- Lansing mayoral election: Kelsea Hector is taking on the incumbent in the mayoral election in Lansing, Mich., centering her campaign on a clear message: “It’s about time Lansing had a woman in leadership.”
- Mesa recall election led by Turning Point Action: A recall election led by Turning Point Action is targeting city councilor Julie Spilsbury, a reminder of how women in public office continue to face gendered political attacks, and why representation and reform remain inseparable.
- Maryland’s Greenbelt voting on ranked-choice voting: Voters are considering an advisory measure on ranked-choice voting (RCV). RCV has won 30 of the last 31 times it has been on municipal election ballots, including 73 percent in Washington, D.C., last year. Greenbelt, Md., is holding an advisory measure on RCV.
Across these cities, the story is the same: When systems evolve, representation evolves as well. From Boston’s stability under Michelle Wu to Detroit’s potential milestone and the continued success of ranked-choice voting across the country, these local elections reflect what’s possible when democracy is designed for inclusion.
Just Say No to Suggestion Women Under-Perform in American Elections
Given how many women have won tough races in swing states—including in 2024 when three Democratic women won U.S. Senate races in states carried by Donald Trump in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, even as three Democratic men lost their Senate seats—I find it hard to believe some Democratic consultants suggest women are a liability. Here’s Molly Jong-Fast reporting on the myth in this week’s New York Times in an essay on the New Jersey governor’s race.
“One of the biggest problems facing Mikie Sherrill’s bid for governor may have nothing to do with Mikie Sherrill and everything to do with a certain pundit-class miasma about the supposed unelectability of women. After all, this is a party that has run two supercompetent women for president on its ticket, and they both lost against Mr. Trump.”
Jong-Fast also writes:
New Jersey is a Rorschach test for a party in full freakout. Ms Sherrill has a reputation for being stilted, inauthentic, or too rehearsed. Women of course often get critiqued in this way when they run for office. The not-at-all-sexist Republican talking point about Ms. Sherrill is that she is the Kamala Harris of New Jersey. Before her hometown crowd, at least, Ms. Sherrill came alive, giving a compelling speech about the economic hardship her grandfather’s family endured during the Great Depression.”
To be sure, Donald Trump defeated two Democratic women nominees. But he defeated a slew of Republican men as well and was further ahead of Joe Biden in the polls than his winning margin over Harris. Along with the U.S. Senate results in 2024, my July 2024 piece on the viability of women still holds:
“Democratic women keep defeating Republicans in battlegrounds. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer won in 2018 and 2022 by an average of ten percent. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs defeated Kari Lake to become the state’s first Democratic governor since 2009. Governor Laura Kelly twice won in the heavily Republican state of Kansas, while Governor Janet Mills won twice to become Maine’s first woman governor and first Democrat since 2010. Democratic women keep winning tough Senate races, including Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow.”
New York Attorney General Tish James Targeted by the Department of Justice
At RepresentWomen, we know that women’s representation is not just about who wins elections—it’s also about what happens after women lead. Women in positions of power often face disproportionate scrutiny, targeted backlash, and, too frequently, politically motivated efforts to diminish their credibility or remove them from office.
This week, New York State Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James offered a powerful reminder of what it looks like to stand firm in the face of pressure. James, who has built a reputation for holding leaders of both parties accountable—from her investigation that led to former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, to her civil case against Donald Trump and the Trump Organization that resulted in a $450 million judgment—is now confronting what many experts are calling a politically motivated indictment.
Donald Trump apparently couldn’t accept his defeat and called for an indictment against all the evidence, and his administration found someone willing to do it. However, James is fighting back. At a recent rally, she told the crowd: “I will not bow. I will not break,” joining a long line of women whose very effectiveness has led to political retribution. Her experience reflects a pattern that our research continues to document: women in power are held to different standards; they are punished not for wrongdoing, but for wielding authority in systems that were not built for them.
Here’s ABC News with more on what is transparently a politically motivated indictment targeting women’s leadership:
“Prosecutors who investigated New York Attorney General Letitia James for possible mortgage fraud found evidence that would appear to undercut some of the allegations in the indictment of James secured earlier this month—including the degree to which James personally profited from her purchase of the property—according to a memo summarizing the state of the case in September, sources told ABC News.
Prosecutors who led the monthslong investigation into James’s conduct concluded that any financial benefit derived from her allegedly falsified mortgage would have amounted to approximately $800 in the year she purchased the home, sources said. The government lawyers also expressed concern that the case could likely not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt because federal mortgage guidelines for a second home do not clearly define occupancy, a key element of the case, according to sources.Prosecutors detailed the findings to the previous U.S. attorney, Erik Siebert, in an internal Department of Justice memo summarizing the status of the case early last month, according to sources familiar with its contents. Siebert was ousted by President Donald Trump last month after refusing to seek charges against James amid what critics call Trump’s campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes.”I want him out,” Trump said the day before Siebert was ousted, telling reporters that it was because Virginia’s two Democratic senators supported his nomination. Of James, Trump said, “It looks to me like she is very guilty of something, but I really don’t know.” Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan—who Trump appointed with the explicit mandate of bringing charges against James and others—secured an indictment against James earlier this month on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.”
At RepresentWomen, we believe that protecting women’s leadership is as vital as advancing it. The fight for gender-balanced governance doesn’t end when women take office; it continues in how we ensure they can lead freely, without intimidation or manipulation of the system meant to uphold justice.
Ireland Elects Independent Catherine Connolly as Third Woman President with Ranked-Choice Voting
Starting with Mary Robinson’s comeback win in a ranked choice voting election in 1990, women have won four of the last six presidential elections in Ireland. The latest winner of a seven-year term is Catherine Connolly, an independent MP who won overwhelmingly in what became a two-candidate race. Ranked choice voting was a safety valve for anyone backing a third candidate who had withdrawn, but it was not needed. NBC News shares more:
Left-wing independent Catherine Connolly, who secured the backing of Ireland’s left-leaning parties, including Sinn Féin, has won the country’s presidential election in a landslide victory against her center-right rival. Official results showed strong voter support for Connolly as president, a largely ceremonial role in Ireland. She won 63% of first-preference votes …
Connolly, 68, said Saturday evening at Dublin Castle that she would champion diversity and be a voice for peace and one that “builds on our policy of neutrality.”
“I would be an inclusive president for all of you, and I regard it as an absolute honor,” she said. …Irish presidents represent the country on the world stage, host visiting heads of state and play an important constitutional role, but they do not have executive powers such as shaping laws or policies.”
New Book by Finland’s Former Prime Minister Sanna Marin on Work-Life Balance
Earlier this year, former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern released A Different Kind of Power, a memoir and documentary reflecting on her time in office and the values that shaped her leadership. I found Ardern’s story powerful and profoundly moving—an honest account of what it means to lead with empathy in an era that often mistakes kindness for weakness.
I’m equally eager to read the upcoming memoir of Sanna Marin, Finland’s former prime minister, who also rose to power in her thirties and faced the same polarized scrutiny for her pandemic leadership, leading to her early retirement from politics while still at the top of her game. Her book, Hope in Action: A Memoir About the Courage to Lead, will be released on Nov. 4.
This month, The New Yorker featured a compelling profile of Marin by Jennifer Wilson, exploring the question: “Can a prime minister have work-balance?” While that question applies to all leaders, women often confront it more directly and, perhaps, more honestly. This, in turn, suggests to me that women would do well to reimagine expectations for our leaders as they assume greater power and control of our elected institutions. Here’s an excerpt from the New Yorker profile:
In her book, Marin writes: “I remember the exact moment when I realized that the string between Markus and me had snapped.” She recalled that the two of them, years earlier, had enjoyed the Danish show “Borgen,” about a female politician who unexpectedly becomes Prime Minister, putting a strain on her relationship with her husband. “Neither of us could understand why they had to sacrifice their relationship for the sake of her career,” Marin writes. “Now I could. It’s not a conscious choice. It’s just life.” Marin told me that part of the problem was that her relationship with Räikkönen had been a chatty one; they would talk for hours at a time. But many things that made up her day as Prime Minister were classified….
I repeatedly got the sense from Marin that it wasn’t the pressures of government that became intolerable but, rather, the press’s fascination with her personal life, which she intended to keep enjoying. Hillary Clinton, who posted her support after the dancing scandal, told me that she thought Marin had the right idea: “Keeping your sense of self and your humanity is critical to surviving in public life. Not to mention the whole thing was blatantly sexist.”
These stories—from Arden’s grace to Marin’s resolve—remind us that the work of representation does not end with electing women. It continues in how we define the standards of power itself: valuing collaboration over control, empathy over ego and balance over burnout. The future of democracy depends not only on who leads but also on how they lead and on creating systems that enable all leaders to thrive.
RepresentWomen’s GPI Draws Coverage Heading into Utah Elections
Utah State University professor Susan R. Madsen is the founder and director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project. Her strong op-ed in the Utah News Dispatch this week features RepresentWomen’s Gender Parity Index -and how Utah might advance from its “D” rating. An excerpt:
“Yet, in 2025, RepresentWomen’s 2025 Gender Parity Index (GPI) assigned Utah a “D” according to what it stated as its “proximity to parity in political offices.” GPI was launched in 2013 to help researchers and advocates track progress toward “gender-balanced governance.” Through the years, I’ve had several people ask me why it is so important to pay such close attention to the gender balance in political roles. In fact, one individual stated: “We just need good people to serve. It doesn’t really matter whether they are men or women.” Let me be clear: It does matter!
The published research on this topic has exploded the last few decades, and the results are clear. Decision-making is better and more representative of the views of all Utahs when there are more equal numbers of men and women on teams, committees, boards, commissions, councils, legislatures, and basically any decision-making body. In fact, business and political research has found that more gender-balanced governance leads to increased innovation, improved creativity, better team decision-making, greater team problem solving, better team performance on highly complex tasks, increased knowledge formation, and higher social sensitivity and collective intelligence, to name a few.
So how is Utah doing according to the RepresentWomen GPI? Although Utah received a “D,” we are not the worst! In fact, our state ranking on this index is 32nd this year. According to the report, “Utah received its first ‘D’ grade in 2021. Prior to 2021, it consistently received an ‘F’ grade, with the exception of 2015.”
Utah’s story is a reminder that progress doesn’t happen by chance—it happens by design. As more women step forward to lead and as systems evolve to make that possible, every “D” inching toward a “C” or “B” marks another step toward a democracy that reflects us all.
P.S. — This week, several members of our team had the joy of working together in person at our D.C. office—a rare treat that always sparks fresh ideas and energy. I was joined by Courtney Lamendola, our director of research; Alissa Bombardier Shaw, our development manager; and Alana Persson, our communications consultant. There’s truly nothing like a few days of collaboration face-to-face to remind us why this work matters.
