Read my column on women’s representation with updates on my trip to Iceland, international election updates, Mexico’s presidential on sexual assault, & a sobering story on the percentage of young women who would like to leave the U.S.which reflects a profound disenchantment with the American promise

We’re in Reykjavik! 🇮🇸 Cynthia Richie Terrell and Katie Usalis are kicking off the #ReykjavikForum — where women leaders from around the world are reimagining power and building systems for equal representation. Follow along for highlights + insights all week! 💜 #RepresentationMatters

Honored to join President Halla Tómasdóttir, Iceland’s second woman president, for a powerful gathering of global leaders at the #ReykjavikForum. 🇮🇸 Iceland was the first nation to elect a woman head of state in 1980 — and continues to model what’s possible when women lead. 💜

🇮🇸 Inside Iceland’s Parliament, where women hold 47% of seats. @cynthiarterrell.bsky.social + Katie Usalis joined leaders at the #ReykjavikForum to hear from the Speaker about how decades of women’s organizing made this possible and why #ProportionalRepresentation matters. 💜

We’re thrilled to see RepresentWomen’s @cynthiarterrell.bsky.social + Katie Usalis return to the #ReykjavikForum next week! 🌍 Cynthia will moderate a panel with extraordinary women leaders from around the world. Stay tuned for insights + highlights later this week. #WomensLeadership #GenderParity

Read this week’s #WeekendReading with all the latest news on women’s representation & leadership! Plus a plug for @lorissa.bsky.social’s new book on Jeannette Rankin & another dip into history with the 1st televised presidential debate — between two women!

The team includes Lina Khan, the FTC commissioner under Biden, and other Democratic former city officials. #MsReads via @guardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Our November reading list from @karlajstrand.com has stories of Indigenous resistance, reflections on wellness culture, motherhood, Medusas, and more.

Read my take on election results for women from Georgia to NJ & VA to NYC to St Paul, Minnesota in @msmagazine.com 🗳️👏🏼🎉

Read my 🎃 weekend reading column on @msmagazine.com featuring this adorable photo of my daughters plus a bit of history & news about women’s representation & leadership in politics here in the U.S. & around the 🌍

Utah earned a “D” on the 2025 Gender Parity Index — ranking 32nd in the U.S. But the story isn’t bleak: women now hold 2 of 5 statewide offices, make up 31% of the legislature, & Rep. Celeste Maloy represents Utah in Congress. “It does matter!” — Dr. Susan R. Madsen 🔗 https://bit.ly/43H1Axp

Read my column in @msmagazine.com on what’s actually happening in Portland, Eleanor Roosevelt’s birthday, elections in Ireland, the Czech Republic, Japan, & Bougainville, impact of the work of @emilyslist.bsky.social, & celebrating #DayOfTheGirl thanks @msmagazine.com

Moldova re-elects President Maia Sandu 🎉 Her party secured a parliamentary majority — and with 40% women in parliament, the country shows the power of quotas to transform representation. The next step: breaking down cultural barriers to parity. #RepresentationMatters

Yesterday, we lost a legend. Jane Goodall (1934–2025) transformed science and inspired generations of women to lead with courage and persistence. Her legacy will continue to shape our world. 🌍💜 #JaneGoodall #WomenInScience

Read this week’s #WeekendReading column from the terrific team at @representwomen.bsky.social for the latest news of women’s representation & leadership — including a tribute to the amazing #JaneGooddall ☺️

New from #OnGender: Alana Persson & @cynthiarterrell.bsky.social share @representwomen.bsky.social's 2025 Gender Parity Index, which measures how women are represented in US politics, noting, “Without women, decision-making is narrower, less inclusive, and more vulnerable...” bit.ly/4pNkbkT

Great article on #CBCF #ALC54 with @representwomen.bsky.social team member @tamaya513.bsky.social who will be speaking on a panel hosted by @fairvote.bsky.social tomorrow!

From the desk of Cynthia Richie Terrell: this week’s Weekend Reading ✨ As UNGA 80 opens, we’re looking abroad for lessons on women’s leadership. 🌍 Read more ➡️ https://bit.ly/4mtj6Ma #WeekendReading #UNGA80 #WomenInPolitics #RepresentationMatters

🚨 History in the making: 40 women have already announced campaigns for governor in 2026 — a record-setting moment. 📊 Momentum is powerful, but systems reforms are what make progress stick. 🎥 Watch more: https://bit.ly/45VkQc5 #WomenInPolitics #RepresentationMatters

We couldn’t agree more: the fight for equality is never finished. Every voice matters. Together, we can carry the torch from Beijing 1995 forward — ensuring progress for the next thirty years and beyond. 💜 #Beijing30 #GenderParity

Thirty years after Beijing, the gains of women’s movements are undeniable—yet they remain underfunded at the very moment we need them most.

At #NetrootsNation2025, Michelle Whittaker — ED of @rcvformaryland & Board Chair of @RepresentWomen — made it clear: our democracy needs #RankedChoiceVoting & #ProportionalRepresentation. 📺 Watch her remarks: https://bit.ly/3V4r7vV #RepresentationMatters #WomenInPolitics

"The fight for women’s equality is not stalled because women aren’t running for office. It is stalled because our systems are designed to protect incumbents and status quo candidates." A must-read from Cynthia Richie Terrell @representwomen.bsky.social on PR & RCV: msmagazine.com/2025/08/25/m...

Data from around the 🌍 & across the U.S. shows #RankedChoiceVoting & #ProportionalRepresentation are electing more women to office faster: women hold 52% of seats in jurisdictions with #RCV — improving the electoral system is what works to build women’s power! @msmagazine.com

And, #RankedChoiceVoting is simply the most viable solution to eliminating split votes & plurality winners in most elections in the U.S. — 85% of our 520,000 elected offices are non partisan & most are single winner — that’s roughly 425,000 offices where #RCV is the solution! @fairvote.bsky.social

The #FairRepresentationAct ( #RankedChoiceVoting + multi winner districts) will end gerrymandering, ensure partisan fairness, enable multiple constituencies of color to elect candidates of choice, AND it’s the most effective strategy available to us to elect more women to Congress!

Thanks @msmagazine.com for posting #WeekendReading on women’s representation!

My thoughts on what’s required to achieve women’s equality on this #WomensEqualityDay 💜💛

It took more than a century of fighting by generations of activists to achieve suffrage for all American women.

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, marks 104 years since the 19th Amendment was certified, recognizing women’s constitutional right to vote.

Read my weekly column on @msmagazine.com with the story behind the decisive vote for women’s suffrage, the #2025GenderParityIndex report card for women’s rep — 3 states earned an “A” this year but 25 states received a “D” — more work to do, & @msfoundation.bsky.social event on Martha’s Vineyard

The @representwomen.bsky.social founder laid out how reforms like ranked-choice voting could double women’s representation in politics in the first episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward.

This week marks the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which was enacted on Aug. 6, 1965.

Read 📖 my weekly column on @msmagazine.com with updates on defense of #RankedChoiceVoting in NYC, funding of #RCV in Washington, DC, introduction of #RCVAct & #FRA via @fairvote.bsky.social, 👏🏼 👏🏼@mariebostwick.bsky.social, & 177th anniversary of #SenecaFallsConvention msmagazine.com/2025/07/18/1...

i talked to @representwomen.bsky.social founder @cynthiarterrell.bsky.social about how we can cultivate gender-balance in politics for the first episode of "looking back, moving forward." read the interview—and tune in to the podcast!—via @msmagazine.com. msmagazine.com/2025/07/10/c...

Highlighted authors and stories are from: @cynthiarterrell.bsky.social, @thefulcrum-us.bsky.social, @cawp-ru.bsky.social, @19thnews.org, @thecanadianpressnews.ca.web.brid.gy, and @votebeat.org.

The #WeekendReading is now online! This week's edition covers: 🟣New York City's RCV elections on Tuesday 🟣 Recapping RepresentWomen's Braver Together event in Ohio 🟣Virginia's history-making primaries 🟣Special elections in St. Paul, Minnesota Read it ⬇️ www.representwomen.org/weekend_read...

Strong editorial from @postopinions.bsky.social in support of implementation of Initiative 83 in Washington, DC — which makes sense given that 73% of DC voters voted for it!

Impressive stats from NYC where 96% of voters report that filling out their Ranked Choice ballot was easy & 76% of voters want to keep or expand use of RCV!

A new report from the Data & Democracy Lab at @cornelluniversity.bsky.social finds that #RankedChoiceVoting “delivered strikingly well on its promise” of better representation for the people of Portland, OR. Watch here 👀

featuring feminist political strategist celinda lake, she the people founder aimee allison, represent women founder @cynthiarterrell.bsky.social‬, nm state senator angel charley, and professors and experts in gender, politics, and the law @jennpiscopo.bsky.social‬ and julie suk!

We’ll know the results of the NYC Council races this week: women will hold the majority of seats AGAIN thanks to the lineup of great candidates, @thenewmajoritynyc.bsky.social, @eleanorslegacyny.bsky.social @votemama.bsky.social & so many other orgs, plus #RCV that eliminates split votes 🗳️

I am honored to be among these trailblazing, insightful & brilliant women on @carmenriosss.bsky.social’ new podcast on @msmagazine.com 🩷

NYC just used #RankedChoiceVoting in its city primaries. FairVote CEO Meredith Sumpter explains how RCV delivered more choice, more competition, and better campaigns for NYC voters. 👀

Rcv + public financing set the stage for the win

RCV is most often discussed in terms of what happens after votes are cast, and it's true that the leader in the first round usually wins. But how it shapes campaign strategies before votes are cast may be it's actual importance

Read my column on the NY mayoral contest, council races & #RankedChoiceVoting in @msmagazine.com — here’s to civility, collaboration & the future of politics!

It did what RCV is designed to do — give lesser-known candidates the power to build coalitions so the candidate who spent the most money/has highest name recognition for better or wrose/is most in line with the establish and therefore has the most power doesn't always win.

Read the full article: thefulcrum.us/electoral-re... and go to our website to learn more about why ranked choice voting removes barriers for women.

RepresentWomen's Executive Director @cynthiarterrell.bsky.social and @thenewmajoritynyc.bsky.social Executive Director Ebonie Simpson teamed up in @thefulcrum-us.bsky.social to share how women win with ranked choice voting in New York City, and across the nation!