📖 Election Day is just days away. As we head into a season of competitive races, our founder Cynthia Richie Terrell reflects on what first led her to build RepresentWomen. In this week’s Weekend Reading, we follow the latest on women on the ballot and women’s representation.

In our latest Democracy Solutions Series webinar, Asia Report author Fatma Tawfik made the case that gender parity is an institutional design challenge, not a pipeline one. Women’s win shouldn’t be luck; They should be built into the system. https://bit.ly/4BrUyM9

51 years ago this week, 90% of Iceland’s women walked out to demand equality. This week, Cynthia Richie Terrell remarks on the milestone in Iceland and reviews how international experience could illuminate the path to systemic change in the U.S. https://bit.ly/4sm56Zk

Happening today! Join us at 1 PM ET for Before the Ballots: League of Women Voters Leaders Preview the 2026 Election. Four league leaders will share what they’re seeing on the ground as early voting gets underway and Election Day nears. https://bit.ly/4jmtbNg

Why would a country with a higher gender quota end up with fewer women in office? 🇰🇷 South Korea: 50% quota → 21% women 🇹🇱 Timor-Leste: 33% quota → 35% women The difference is in design. Join our webinar today, where we uncover the answer, 5–6 p.m. ET: https://bit.ly/4yDuMmz

Two free conversations this week ahead of the midterms: 🌏 Tues. 10/20: From Asia to Bosnia, on international women’s representation Register: https://bit.ly/4yDuMmz 🗳️ Thurs. 10/22: Before the Ballots, with League of Women Voters leaders Register:https://bit.ly/4jmtbNg

Ahead of Tuesday’s international webinar, another milestone for women abroad: Oct. 18, 1929: Canada’s highest court of appeal rules that women are “persons” under the law and can serve in the Senate. 🇨🇦 Join us Oct. 20, 5 PM ET via Zoom to learn more: https://bit.ly/4yDuMmz

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: From Asia to Bosnia: Analyzing International Women’s Representation. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Join us for the next session of the Democracy Solutions Series, From Asia to Bosnia: Analyzing International Women's Representation. In this hour-long webinar, the RepresentWomen team will share our i...

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🇲🇽 73 years ago today, Mexico recognized women’s full citizenship and right to vote. Today women hold half the seats in both chambers of its Congress, and a woman is president. That took more than time. It took changing the rules. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4jjS0tb

Op-ed: Women at the Front and Center of Mexican Politics: What Can the U.S. Learn? — RepresentWomen

Although there is still a long way to go to achieve substantive gender parity in public life, Mexico’s progress can and should be a valuable lesson to the U.S. Read International Researcher, Fatma Faw...

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“My false o’erweighs your true.” Centuries after Shakespeare wrote it, whose words are believed to be still a central barrier to equality. This week, Cynthia Richie Terrell reflects on what that line means for women’s representation today. https://bit.ly/4zFrBei

With Election Day weeks away, join League of Women Voters leaders from Minnesota, Virginia, and Washington for a preview of the 2026 election: what voters are asking, what’s on the ballot, and what’s shaping turnout. 🗓️ Thursday, Oct 22 | 1 PM ET | Zoom Register:https://bit.ly/4jmtbNg

Join us to learn how other countries systems benefit women in elected office on Tuesday, October 20, at 5 PM ET on Zoom for From Asia to Bosnia: Analyzing International Women’s Representation. Register here: https://bit.ly/4yDuMmz

🗳️ Partisan or not, single-seat or multi-seat, federal or local, ranked choice voting has the potential to make room for women in every U.S. election. Read the full case study here: https://bit.ly/3W79GOR

Happy International Day of the Girl! 💜This day belongs to every girl in our world, and to the determination and talents they carry. We are investing in a more inclusive democracy so that girls won’t face the same old barriers when they run for office. https://bit.ly/4wdPxTL

West Virginia phased out its multi-member districts. Over the same period, women’s share of the House of Delegates fell from 22% to 12%. The rules of an election shape who wins it. More seats, more women. New research: https://bit.ly/4zgy6ni

📖 In this week’s Weekend Reading, Cynthia Richie Terrell marks a historic moment: 115 years ago this weekend, California became the sixth state in the U.S. where women could vote on equal terms with men. Read the full article here. https://bit.ly/3TMVdae

Increasing women’s representation in office is not a box to check. It is tied to trust. 48% of Americans say a government where women hold roughly half of elected offices would be more trustworthy and effective than today’s. Learn more about our research: https://bit.ly/45TMu8n

Join us Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 5 p.m. ET for From Asia to Bosnia: Analyzing International Women's Representation, our next Democracy Solutions Series webinar, with an exclusive preview of our Asia Brief. https://bit.ly/4yDuMmz

This week, the RepresentWomen team members were in Atlanta for the PoDS Workshop, connecting with top academics from across the country to discuss the importance of women's representation. Learn more about our presentation in Weekend Reading: https://bit.ly/3VOb6xD

As international leaders, activists, and advocates gather in New York City for the UN General Assembly, Cynthia Richie Terrell reflects on the momentum it brings to the march for gender parity in this week’s weekend Reading. 🌍 https://bit.ly/4iKiL9P

Our International Research Manager, Fatma Tawfik, shares her insights on countries leading in gender parity in her new piece: most of those leading in gender parity use more representative voting systems, such as PR or ranked choice voting. https://bit.ly/4ye08jd

Read the new piece from Livia Follet: "It's Not Just Who You Vote For — It's How," where she walks through real cities where ranked choice voting boosted women's representation. RCV opens the door for more women to run. Read here: https://bit.ly/4hqVZ5x

🌏New data from the World Economic Forum places the U.S. 47th out of 145 countries, 5 spots lower than 2025. Our GPI tells us the same story. If we want to reach parity in our lifetimes, we have to implement structural reforms.

This week’s Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation highlights RepresentWomen’s participation at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference! Read the full edition here:https://bit.ly/3TasYSy

Tonight, from 6–9 PM, RepresentWomen will cohost the 13th Annual Black Women Lead Reception at La Vie in Washington, DC, held during the week of the CBC Foundation's Legislative Conference. Join us for the celebration of Black women's leadership! https://bit.ly/4iAPWg0

“We are seeing statistically significant higher rates of women winning under ranked choice voting versus the general winner takes all system that we have,” said Alana Persson, RepresentWomen’s Comms Director, quoted in The Australian Financial Review. https://bit.ly/4zW62Xt

Why Washington’s women problem is getting worse

Karoline Leavitt departs for motherhood. AOC is flamed for freezing her eggs. Both decisions chip away at women’s already meagre share of US political power.

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RepresentWomen had a terrific time at the American Political Science Association’s annual conference, where we presented our Gender Parity Index research and attending a roundtable with partners! To learn more about our research, visit our website: https://bit.ly/4AhG0OS 🌟

In this week’s Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation pays tribute to Gloria and Dolly, a reminder that their fight for equality, for a world where women share equal power and respect, lives on in each of us. Read the full version here: https://bit.ly/4zVnb3L

There are zero major airports in the U.S. named after a woman. That could change after the state of Tennessee moved to rename Nashville International Airport in honor of Dolly Parton. Read the full article from our founder, Cynthia Richie Terrell: https://bit.ly/4gvD9de

RepresentWomen team is in Boston this week for the APSA Annual Meeting. We will be joining a roundtable with partners on the status of women's representation. Research Director Courtney Lamendola will present her co-authored paper on women's underrepresentation. Follow along!

Cynthia Richie Terrell, RepresentWomen's Founder and Executive Director, has recently published Architects for a Fourth Founding, in Dædalus as a response to a broader conversation of the architecture of representation in the U.S. Read the full piece here: https://bit.ly/4h5KWyw