Written by: Morgan Schwanky

Women are continuing to break records in 2023, with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie breaking records at the box office, Taylor Swift having the most No. 1 albums of any artist, and Beyoncé being the most-awarded Grammy artist. For the first time ever, the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards’ Artist of the Year category nominees are all female (Beyoncé, Doja Cat, Karol G, Nicki Minaj, Shakira, and Taylor Swift). It is also the first time that two Latina women have been nominated.

But there are other industries besides entertainment that have women breaking records, including local government. There is much discourse surrounding the topic of the gender gap both inside and outside of our government, but the facts and numbers do not lie.

The Gender Gap in Government

The United States has yet to elect a woman as our commander in chief. That is 46 – 0 for the presidential gender gap. Barbie stays ahead of the curve, with their first presidential doll making her debut in 1992. Women make up roughly 50 percent of our population, but that percentage does not transfer to women elected and appointed to public office. As with many other industries, the number also dwindles as roles rise in leadership.

In Michigan, under 30 percent of our mayors are women as of 2022. Many municipalities have yet to elect women as mayors and large cities such as Grand Rapids, Flint, and Holland elected their first female mayors as recently as 2015. It’s evident across all government entities that women are underrepresented. The Michigan Municipal League Foundation is working to help bridge this gap through its support of the 16/50 Project and its Women’s Municipal Leadership Program.

Supporting the 16/50 Project

The 16/50 Project was started in 2018 by the Michigan Municipal League. Its name comes from the statistic that women made up 16 percent of local chief administrative officers in local government, while making up roughly 50 percent of Michigan’s overall population.

The project’s goal is to remove barriers that exist for women in local government to increase the number of women in leadership roles. In 2018, the project launched the Women’s Municipal Leadership Program. It was started to provide training for women working in local government in several management areas. These include municipal finance and budgeting, council-manager relations, and economic development. The project’s website explains the value that the program offers to participants:

“Tapping into municipal and leadership experts, the Women’s Municipal Leadership Program brings together lectures, panels, and interactive experiences—and offers a comprehensive curriculum that prepares women to make bold moves forward in their careers. Participants…dialogue with experts and veterans in the field of municipal management, build leadership expertise through executive coaching, and participate in a mock interview experience with immediate feedback from seasoned managers.”

Helping to Close the Gap

At the start of the 16/50 Project, women made up 16 percent of local government managers (this includes cities, townships, and villages). It has since risen to 21 percent. To date, there have been five classes of the Women’s Leadership Project making up 130 graduates. Here are some of the things the graduates have said about their participation in the program:

“Before I completed the Women’s Municipal Leadership Program, the city’s senior staff were all men. I didn’t see anybody that looked like me in leadership roles,” said Kim Awrey, Gaylord City Manager.

“There’s no question that if I didn’t go through the Women’s Municipal Leadership Program, I wouldn’t have become a city manager as quickly as I did. The program gave me the confidence I needed to succeed. They taught us about standing in your power and really owning who you are. I’m a woman, and a younger woman, and a woman of color. And now I’m among a handful of women of color who are municipal managers. It’s been an incredible journey,” said Mariah Walton, Eastpointe City Manager.

To learn more, you can read this press release.

How You Can Help

The Women’s Municipal Leadership Project is completely free to all its participants, thanks to generous support from multiple donors including the MML Foundation. Thus far, the Foundation has funded twenty-four participants through the program. With your help, that number can only go up. Every woman who attends discovers the capabilities that were already inside of her that needed to be cultivated.

When donating to the MML Foundation, donors can choose to select the 16/50 Project Fund for their donation. To learn more about donating to the MML Foundation, visit the donation page.

Looking to the Future

Now more than ever, women are reaching new strides and being recognized for their hard work and talents. Barbie has been telling girls that they can become whoever they want to be, ever since the doll came out in 1959. Barbie has been every and any profession in the book. Those girls have grown up. They, their daughters, granddaughters, and probably some great-granddaughters are seeing that same message today on the big screen.

The Renaissance World Tour and the Eras Tour have already been predicted to be some of the largest grossing tours of all time. Beyoncé and Taylor Swift are not done yet and will go down in history.

In 2020, America elected its first female vice president. No matter which side of the aisle you are on, more women today are serving in government than ever before. With the help of programs like the 16/50 Project, they will continue to do so.

Perhaps Barbie being ahead of the curve won’t be the case for long. Our first female President of the United States could very well be walking among us today. By some stroke of luck, perhaps she’ll start out in Michigan and be able to thank the MML Foundation for their part in paving the way for women in government.

Through the MML Foundation, Michigan is making great strides in helping women in local government. The 16/50 Project and its Women’s Municipal Leadership Program is the first of its kind—so that leaves 49 states left in the equation. Think about the impact that could be made if every state implemented programming like this. Potential is everywhere, it just needs to be cultivated.