Women’s History Month: Inspiring Messages from ALEC Members and Friends

March is Women’s History Month, and this year’s theme is “Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope.” To celebrate and commemorate the achievements of ladies now and throughout history, ALEC has assembled messages from a handful of female leaders in our community and among our leadership to serve as a capstone for the month. In the videos below, these exemplary ladies tell us about the women who encouraged and inspired them to persevere, as well as their thoughts on freedom.

At each Annual Meeting, we honor a deserving female leader with ALEC’s Iron Lady Award, and three of the women featured in the videos, Senate President Karen Fann, Congresswoman Yvette Herrell and former Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir are among the Award’s recipients. Because women’s issues are global, at the Women’s Caucus Roundtable at ALEC’s 2021 summer conference, we invited an impressive group of speakers (Michelle Bekkering of USGLC; Ambassador Kelley Currie of CNAS; Ambassador Roya Rahmani, former Ambassador from Afghanistan to the US) who articulated the obstacles faced by women around the world and described how courageous ladies everywhere meet and surmount these challenges.  Michelle referenced a McKinsey Global Institute report asserting that achieving gender parity in the world’s labor force could result in a 26% increase in global GDP underscoring that how a nation treats its women directly affects its economic prospects. Watch a video featuring the presenters below.

ALEC depends on the vital contributions made by women, and Women’s History Month is an appropriate time to recognize their work along with the accomplishments of women around the world.