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Contact:
Katya Spear
Managing Director
knspear@mayorsinnovation.org
Local leaders are facing unprecedented challenges. Women mayors are meeting them head on, and together.
We raise the profile of women mayors and their successes across the country to benefit women leaders and their cities.
In partnership with Equity Agenda, we launched the Women Mayors Network during the Winter 2020 Policy Meeting. The Network continues to meet remotely both for conversations facilitated by the Mayors Innovation Project, as well as informally for events hosted by members.
We invite woman-identified mayors to join us and be connected to other women mayors across the country.
Research Project: Barriers in the Office of the Mayor
In the summer of 2024, the Mayors Innovation Project launched a research project aiming at better understanding the experiences that women mayors face while campaigning for and in the position of mayor. Through this work, we hope to shed light on both the challenges and opportunities women mayors face and what resources, people, or support systems have helped them in each stage of this process.
Why a Network for Women Mayors?
Women mayors within our network have consistently expressed the need for a space where they can speak candidly, learn from each other, and gain the skills necessary to succeed amidst the challenges that sexism creates for all women, but in particular for women in leadership roles. We are excited to offer a space for mayors who identify as women to connect with each other.
The Women Mayors Network provides women mayors with the opportunity to:
- Explore the context and issues that affect the success of women mayors in their roles, with an initial focus on the specific experience of women in executive leadership (as opposed to more legislative roles).
- Prioritize equity, representation, and intersectionality and understand how gender and race can be explored together.
- Provide vetted high road policy options around intersectional/gender equity for all MIP members.
- Inform the broader MIP membership network by providing resources to allies to help them interrupt sexism and racism, address equity concerns and support their colleagues’ leadership.
Women Mayors Network News
Former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges shares ‘startling’ data on harassment faced by women mayors
A new poll from the national group Mayor’s Innovation Project shows that female mayors face higher rates of harassment and violence than their male counterparts. Former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges helped to develop and facilitate the survey. …
November 14, 2025How America’s female mayors lead in the face of adversity
Former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges joined “The Final 5” to discuss a new study from the Women Mayors Network showing women mayors face substantially more harassment than their male counterparts. From threats and violence to …
November 11, 2025Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong Speaks to the Lightning Strike Talk Radio Show
Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong spoke with Dr. Sheila White on Chicago’s Lightning Strike Talk Radio Show, highlighting her work with the Women Mayors Network (WMN) to carry out their recent study on the individual and systemic …
November 10, 2025Survey shows sharp gender gap in political harassment
Female mayors experience political violence at a much higher rate than their male counterparts, according to the results of a new study conducted by the Mayors Innovation Project.
October 30, 2025
Rochester’s Norton joins U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting in DC
Before the Winter Meeting, Mayor Norton took part in a Mayors Innovation Project workshop on Economic Mobility, where she provided updates to fellow mayors on several City of Rochester initiatives, as well as partnerships with …
January 21, 2025- More Women Mayors Network posts