Find Your Voice. Use It.
What it really takes for women to speak up, stand out, and refuse to be silenced.
Courage is not the absence of fear. It never has been. Courage is the decision — made in the face of fear, doubt, and resistance — to speak out, to show up, and to keep going anyway. And for women, that decision often comes at a cost that men rarely have to consider.
The women who came before us didn’t worry about the cost, and they didn’t wait for permission — they drove across the country demanding the right to vote. They organized in libraries, spoke out in classrooms, and stood in picket lines. They charted paths — or in the case of Alice Burke and Nell Richardson — roads, where none existed. Their plan was simple and radical. Go to the people and talk about equality.
They were met with skepticism, ridicule, and sometimes outright hostility. The roads were rough, and the welcome was not always warm. But they kept driving and talked to every person they met. They knocked on doors, distributed information, hosted conversations, and, along with legions of other determined women working in their neighborhoods and communities, they built grassroots momentum that eventually changed the law and gave women the right to vote.
Their courage was huge — strategic, practical, and persistent. And it is exactly the kind of courage that we need today.
The work around equality is not done. While the suffragists fought for and gave us the right to vote, equality is still not protected in the Constitution, much less guaranteed. Constitutional equality is not a partisan issue; it is a human one. We know the playing field is not level, and pretending it is doesn’t help anyone.
Women like Alice and Nell believed so fully in the possibility of equality that they got in a car with rough roads, an uncertain welcome, and no guarantee of success, and they drove.
Now it’s our turn.
Do One Small Thing
Progress is the result of collective action, built by small, intentional choices. This week you can:
· Sign the national ERA petition at Sign4ERA.org — your signature matters.
· Follow the Driving the Vote for Equality tour and share the story with the women in your life.
· Learn and Share – choose a woman from history, read about her life, and share her story with a friend or on social media.
Consistent Presence, respect, and support keep the momentum going.
Driving the Vote for Equality
Equality matters. It always has.
In 1916, Woodrow Wilson was nearing the end of his first term as president, World War I was raging in Europe and dividing opinion across the United States, and Pancho Villa was terrorizing the southern border. The public was deeply divided on whether or not the U.S. should intervene in global conflicts, what role the government should play in business and banking, and how immigration and cultural identity would shape the nation’s future.
New forms of communication were accelerating the national conversation in ways people had never experienced before, too. News traveled faster, opinions formed and hardened quickly, and debates over free speech versus national security grew intense. Loyalty tests and public pressure campaigns emerged, and fears of espionage were widespread.
Global alliances were shifting. Power structures were changing. And women across much of the country were still fighting for something they did not have — the right to vote.
Read More... https://www.drnancyoreilly.com/driving-the-vote-for-equality/
Connected Power: Shaping a Feminist Digital Future
Women Connect4Good is thrilled to support Connected Power — the first-ever comprehensive mapping of women-led and feminist digital infrastructure, paving the way for a brighter, more connected future.
Together with 200+ co-architects, they’re co-creating a digital ecosystem blueprint to advance democracy, peace, and prosperity through 2026. The Connected Power team is seeking input from platform leaders, grassroots organizers, tech innovators, and impact investors to shape this vision.
Be part of the movement! Take the Global Survey for Co-Architects by March 14th: https://unfurlfutures.fillout.com/connected-power-global-survey
Learn more and get involved:
https://www.connectedpower-blueprint.net/
Did You Know?
Women in Healthcare Make Up the Majority—But Not in Leadership
Nearly 80% of healthcare workers in the U.S. are women, yet they hold fewer than 20% of hospital CEO roles. This disconnect reveals a persistent leadership gap in one of the country’s largest and most essential sectors. Women are the backbone of care delivery but remain sidelined in decisions about funding, policy, and institutional direction—especially women of color.
Source: Women in the Workplace 2024 Report; American Hospital Association
Additional Reading: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2025/elevating-women-in-health-care
In Closing
History isn’t a moment in time. It happens in car trips and conversations, in our stories, and in the quiet decisions to raise your hand when everything in you wants to stay silent. Alice Burke and Nell Richardson didn’t know they would succeed. They just knew they couldn’t stay home.
You don’t need a Saxon Roadster or a 10,000-mile route. You need the same thing they had — the belief that your voice matters, and the courage to use it. In your workplace, your community, your family, your feed. Wherever you are, that is where the work is.
We move forward together, one courageous act at a time.