The WeLead Reader
April 13, 2019

“Time’s Up for Abusers in the Workplace”: This week, Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL), and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the Be HEARD Act, an anti-harassment bill...“From Hollywood, to Congress, to board rooms, restaurants, manufacturing floors, and farm fields, workers are making clear these experiences won’t be swept under the rug any longer.”  The Root, WBUR, HuffPost

Addressing Black Women’s Health: Reps. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) and Alma Adams (D-NC) teamed up to form the Black Maternal Health Caucus. Adams said, “The facts are simple. Black women are dying of preventable, pregnancy-related complications at an alarming rate, and as [a] Black mother and grandmother, it’s personal to me.” The Hill

‘Misogyny is an Organizing Force’: Former President of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards, promoting the paperback edition of her best-selling book Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out and Finding the Courage to Lead, tells Newsweek's  Nina Burleigh, that women need to do more than simply resist the policies of the Trump administration - they need to "channel this energy and activism into lasting political change."  Newsweek

DNC Diversity: The DNC hired three women of color for senior leadership roles: Rachana Desai Martin, Waikinya Clanton,and Reyna Walters-Morgan. DNC Chair Tom Perez said they "bring a wealth of knowledge to the party and we are lucky to have them on our team. Their work will be felt far outside the building as we continue to strengthen our party and build on the victories from the last two years." Refinery29

She Recruits: Rep. Susan W. Brooks (R-IN) told her GOP colleagues that the party needs more women and diversity, imploring them to "do a better job of looking like America.” As the National Republican Congressional Committee’s recruitment chair, Brooks has already “name-checked” five diverse candidates for Congress. Roll Call

First Daughter in the White House: Growing up as the daughter of Donald and Ivana Trump taught Ivanka Trump a lesson that has stuck with her: 'you can’t control everything, but you can control how you present yourself.' In this in-depth profile of the first daughter, Elaina Plott goes inside Ivanka's "dreamworld" and explores her role in her father's administration. The Atlantic

Ernst Earns Cash: Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is reporting $2.8 million in cash on hand for her 2020 reelection campaign. According to the Ernst campaign, that is the “largest first-quarter fundraising total in an off-year election cycle in Iowa.” Ernst faces no opposition at this time. Sioux City Journal

“It makes you feel really empowered.”: When women in Congress address sexism on the Hill, it's their staffers who benefit. With advocates for women now sitting in the seats of Congress, there are more and more explicit calls to end the culture of casual and “archaic” sexism on the Hill. Roll Call

Addressing an Epidemic of Violence: Native American women face high rates of violence and abuse: some reservations experience murder rates ten times the national average. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced the Not Invisible Act of 2019 to address what the Indian Law Resource Center calls a “lack of a diligent and adequate federal response” to these grim statistics." New York Times

Ladies Leading in Lincoln: Two women are running for mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska. Leirion Gaylor Baird and Cyndi Lamm emerged as the victors out of a recent 5-way primary race. Regardless of the who wins, the 49th mayor of Lincoln will be a woman, something that has only happened twice before in the state’s history.  Lincoln Journal-Star

A “Confluence of Two Trends”: Across the country, lesbian women running for mayor are finding unprecedented success. Lori Lightfoot’s recent victory in Chicago could be a sign of things to come: Kansas City, Tampa, and Madison all have lesbian candidates leading in their races, suggesting that LGBTQ women could be finding a new foothold in American politics. Governing

Leading Men: Despite a historically diverse field of women candidates in the Democratic primary, white men are leading the polls, while women lag behind. (The Hill, FiveThirtyEight)

How to Break the Highest Glass Ceiling in America: Ed Kilgore writes in New York Magazine that some women are wary of nominating another woman for president in 2020. Kilgore proposes a list of alternate routes to a electing female president, including letting Republicans nominate a woman first and nominating a “different kind of female candidate” who might be able to avoid Hillary Clinton’s fate.  New York Magazine

Donor Circles:  Politico looks at the growing influence of female donor circles and how they are fueling candidacies and providing an "on-ramp for female professionals into the world of political giving." 

➤➤Kirsten Gillibrand

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) appeared on CNN for a town hall on Tuesday night. Find the full video here, and CNN’s list of takeaways here. Several outlets noted that the event attracted fewer viewers than other CNN candidate town halls. ( The Hill, Fox News, Forbes).

This week, Gillibrand wrote an op-ed for CNN calling President Trump a “coward” and explaining why she thinks Americans “deserve a brave president.”  She also solidified her New Hampshire campaign team and opened a Manchester campaign office. WMUR

News & Analysis:

• Gillibrand Used to have Moderate Positions on Immigration and Guns - Voters Want to Know Why She's Changed Vox
• The Politics of Troy and the Stalled Campaign of Kirsten Gillibrand. The New Yorker
• Kirsten Gillibrand Wants Her Women’s Issues Policies To Set Her Apart In 2020 The Daily Dot
• Gillibrand: I've Gotten 2020 Advice From Clinton U.S. News & World Report
• Fact-Checking Gillibrand’s Claim NRA ‘Is Largely Funded’ By Gunmakers CNN
• Gillibrand To Open Harris County Democratic Party's Presidential Speaker Series Houston Chronicle

Opinion:

• Jill Filipovic: Kirsten Gillibrand Is A Human Being Who Admits Mistakes
  CNN
• Joan Walsh: Kirsten Gillibrand Isn’t Afraid Of Anything The Nation

➤➤Kamala Harris

Reports show Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has raised $12 million since kicking off her campaign. She held a town hall in Iowa City on Wednesday, drawing more than 900 people (Iowa City Press-Citizen). At the event, Harris reiterated a support for teachers, receiving strong positive feedback from  the audience. One teacher called Harris’ interest in public education “uplifting” (The Gazette). On Thursday, she talked to the Des Moines Register and picked up an endorsement from Jean Hessburg, former Executive Director of the Iowa Democratic Party.

News & Analysis:

• Kamala Harris Takes Her Shot The Atlantic
• Harris Says She Owns a Gun for Personal Safely But Wants to Ban Assault Weapons Business Insider
• Kamala Harris And Other 2020 Contenders Target Health Risks Faced By Pregnant Black Women Los Angeles Times
• Can Progressives Forgive Kamala Harris Her Past Moderation? New York Magazine

Opinion:

• Philip Klein: A Potential Weakness In Kamala Harris’ California ‘Firewall’ Washington Examiner

• As A Prosecutor, Amy Klobuchar Once Threatened Kids: Go To School—Or Court The Daily Beast
• Amy Klobuchar’s 2020 Campaign Says It Raised $5.2 Million New York Times

➤➤Elizabeth Warren

On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), along with other Democratic hopefuls, addressed the North America Building Trades Union in Washington D.C. 

So far, Warren has lagged behind her competitors in fundraising and polling.  In the Washington Post, David Byler asks, “Why hasn’t Elizabeth Warren achieved liftoff?”

On Monday, she will hold an organizing event in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. She then heads to Aurora, Colorado for her first campaign visit to the state on Tuesday.

News & Analysis:

• When A Possible President Was Your Personal Finance Guru Ozy
• Warren Releases 2018 Tax Return, Reveals $900,000 In Income Washington Post
• Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 Campaign Says It Raised $6 Million New York Times
• “Liz Was A Diehard Conservative’ POLITICO Magazine
• Elizabeth Warren Bets That Slew Of Policy Ideas Will Win Over Trump-Weary Voters Washington Post
• Warren Wants To Raise $1 Trillion In Revenue With A New 7% Tax On Corporate Profits Over $100 Million CNBC

Opinion:

• Erik M. Jensen: Here’s Why Sen. Warren’s Wealth Tax Is Likely Unconstitutional The Baltimore Sun
• Martin Walsh And Yvonne Spicer: As Mayors, We Need Warren’s Housing Bill CommonWealth Magazine

➤➤Tulsi Gabbard

• Tulsi Gabbard Hits Donor Goal, Qualifying For Primary Debate Axios
• 2020 Democrat Says Assange Arrest Is 'Slippery Slope' For Journalists, Americans CNN

➤➤Marianne Williamson

• Marianne Williamson Wants To Convince You That Love Can Be A Winning Presidential Platform Bustle
• Marianne Williamson Tells Iowans, 'We Need To Do More Than Just Defeat Donald Trump' Des Moines Register

“I think the most important thing any public servant can do is listen.”: NHPR’s "Morning Edition" host Rick Ganley interviewed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who talked about family leave, guns, and the importance of building “common ground.” NHPR

“When you’re a woman running for office, strangers tend to give you unsolicited advice.”: On POLITICO’s "Women Rule" podcast, Reps. Terri Sewell (R-AL) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX) tell listeners “what nobody tells you about being a woman in politics.”  POLITICO

The Speaker Speaks: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) talked with Recode’s Kara Swisher about foreign interference in US elections, how politicians like President Donald Trump and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez use Twitter, whether all political advertising should be banned from the internet, and more. Recode

Positivity, Please: Storybench at Northeastern University’s School of Journalism has been keeping a close eye on 2020 election coverage, and what they’ve found isn’t good news for the historically female presidential field. Their study—which analyzes words used to describe the candidates by major news outlets—shows that the four women senators running for president are all receiving significantly more negative media coverage than some of their male counterparts. Why are the female candidates receiving less positive “media sentiment?” Professor Meredith Conroy (California State at San Bernardino) argues that certain traits that are viewed positively in male candidates become negatives for women. Professor Valerie Sperling (Clark University) similarly points out that women running for president are in a difficult position: “Women in our society are supposed to be pleasing, kind, and somewhat deferential… so a woman who comes across as decisive and tough may also be frowned upon for being ‘nasty’ or ‘shrill’ — for ostensibly violating feminine stereotypes of ‘likeability.’” So far, it appears that media coverage of the presidential race may be reinforcing, rather than challenging, negative stereotypes about women in politics. Storybench

#MeToo in Poli Sci: The newest special issue of the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy is dedicated to examining the #MeToo movement in political science from a variety of different perspectives. Nadia E. Brown (Purdue University) writes in her introduction that the authors of the diverse essays in the issue are “united by a rage caused by the injustices of heteropatriarchy, sexism, white supremacy, meritocracy, and misogyny.”

In their article “Title IX: Help or Hindrance?”  Valerie A. Sulfaro (James Madison University) and Rebecca Gill (University of Nevada Las Vegas) seek to provide “practical guidance for anyone who has experienced sexual harassment in academia.” The authors write that “sexual harassment is an abuse of power by those who possess it against those who do not” and assert that “Title IX does not remedy this imbalance.”

As a whole, this special issue underscores the importance of combating the epidemic of sexual harassment and violence and promoting equality for women in academia.

A few other articles of interest in the Journal:

• Breaking Out of the Ivory Tower: (Re)Thinking Inclusion of Women and Scholars of Color in the Academy (Jenn M. Jackson, University of Chicago)
• Sexual Harassment Trajectories: Limits of (Current) Law and of the Administrative State (Carol Nackenoff, Swarthmore College)
• Ending Sexual Harassment: Protecting the Progress of #MeToo (Kristen Renwick Monroe, University of California Irvine)
• Understanding the Personal Impact of Violence and Assault (Vanessa Tyson, Scripps College)

Nikki’s Next Chapter: Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has a book coming out in the fall. Haley will detail her experiences as ambassador and governor, offering “deeply personal” insights into the “challenges” she faced as a woman in government. Associated Press

White House Afterlife: Following her resignation from the Department of Homeland Security, former secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and her allies are attempting to put a positive spin on her tenure, which was marked by her public defense of the Trump administration’s controversial immigration policies. Whatever Nielsen does next, she isn’t alone—other ousted Trump officials have “had to grapple with the reputational burdens” of serving the president. POLITICO

Half the Women Are Gone: The number of women in President Trump’s Cabinet has gone from six to three. After the resignations of Haley, Nielsen, and Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon, women comprise only 13% of the president's cabinet —the lowest figure in decades. CNN Politics

VAWA Victory: On Thursday, House Democrats reauthorized a strengthened version of the Violence Against Women Act, despite opposition from the NRA. The bill is now headed for the Senate, where it will likely undergo significant modifications. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) are working on the Senate legislation. Nonprofit Quarterly

Women's History Month Is Not Enough: Lynn Yeakel,  president and founder of Vision 2020, the national women's equality initiative at Drexel University, believes that women deserve more than one month out of twelve. In an op-ed, she describes her organization's plan to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage by focusing on women all year long in 2020.  Philadelphia Inquirer