Women's History Month ends in three days. What comes next is up to you.

You feel it every time you sit at that table.

The neighborhood that keeps getting passed over. The policy that looks reasonable on paper and lands like a boulder on the families who feel it most. The community resource that disappears from a budget because no one who uses it was in the room. You feel the distance between those decisions and your community's actual reality.

That gap has a history.

Women's History Month exists because women were systematically excluded from the rooms where decisions were made. Not by accident. By design. And the kitchen table has been absorbing the consequences ever since.

Women are 50.5 percent of the United States population. Yet less than 30 percent of mayors in this country are women. And every election cycle that passes without your voice is another cycle your community cannot sustain.

The issue is not that you are unqualified.
The issue is that the room was never designed for your entry.

The Catalyst Perspective

This month I published Beyond Recognition: Celebrating Women's History Month with Action for the Mayors Innovation Project.

​https://mayorsinnovation.org/2026/03/13/womens-history-month-was-created-because-democracy-failed-women/​

Women's History Month was created because democracy failed women. And that failure did not end in 1980.

The research I co-published through the Mayors Innovation Project documents what women in public office actually face today. Twenty-five percent of women mayors report being harassed three or more times per month. Men report that rate at ten percent. Women face higher rates of sexual harassment, threats directed at their families, and deliberate attempts to undermine their authority once they take office.

Budgets get scrutinized.
Ordinances get revisited.
Routine decisions become controversial.

I lived this.

Within my first month as mayor, ordinances were challenged. FOIA requests nearly tripled during my tenure. After I left office and a White man held the seat, the volume dropped significantly.

That is not a coincidence.

And yet seventy-nine percent of women mayors would still encourage other women to run. Organizations like RepresentWomen and Women's Democracy Lab are working to make that support systemic.

That is not resilience as a talking point. That is a movement.

The SCALE™ Framework for Public Sector Leadership™

Every issue of The Leadership Catalyst™ is built on the SCALE™ Framework for Public Sector Leadership™. Here is how it speaks directly to where you are right now.

S — Strengths-Based Leadership™

You have a track record. A network. Lived experience that no training program can manufacture. The work is not building credibility from scratch. The work is learning to see what you already carry and lead from it without apology.

C — Confidence and Cognitive Reframing™

The voice that says someone else is more qualified, that your community is not ready, that it is not the right time. That voice is not wisdom. It is fear.

Here is the reframe. You have built a career. You have led teams, managed budgets, and solved problems others walked away from. If you have also managed a household, add scheduling, negotiation, crisis response, and consensus building to your list of credentials.

Those are not soft skills. Those are governing skills.
You have already been leading without the title.

A — Aligned Values and Boundary Negotiation™

Public office will ask a great deal. The leaders who navigate it with integrity are the ones who defined their values and boundaries in advance. That is not rigidity. It is strategy.

L — Leadership Longevity™

Burning out in year one helps no one. The leaders who sustain meaningful public careers build rhythms, systems, and support structures before they need them. Longevity does not happen by accident. It requires intention.

E — Emboldened Ecosystem Building™

No one does this alone. Your ecosystem is not a luxury. It is your infrastructure.

During my tenure as Mayor of Kankakee, Illinois I founded the African American Civic Leaders Scholarship™. That scholarship has raised $40,000+ and supported 18 students. I did not just hold the office. I used it to open doors for the next generation of civic leaders.

That is the standard.

Take Action Today

Women's History Month deserves more than a post.
Write down the one issue in your community that you cannot stop thinking about.

That is your why.

Think of one woman in your life who is being called to lead. She may not have said it out loud yet. You already know who she is. Forward this newsletter to her today.

And show up somewhere at the policy level this week. Attend a city council meeting. Speak during public comment. Apply for a board or commission. Leadership does not begin with a title. It begins with presence.

Democracy is not measured by whether women are praised once a year. It is measured by whether women can lead, govern, and endure without being targeted. Every woman who steps into a public role makes that measure real. Every woman who stays home because the room felt unwelcoming makes it smaller.

The room has waited long enough. Go take your seat.

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​In partnership and purpose,