On August 15, Mayor David Briley of Nashville announced the creation of the Mayor’s Council on the State of Women to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. The council will serve in an advisory capacity to the Mayor’s office on women’s issues, and will focus on increasing civic engagement and access to opportunity for women.

Subcommittees for the council will be responsible for the following activities:

• Policy: Develop policy recommendations that increase access to opportunity for women. This work will build from the former Gender Equity Council’s agenda and priorities. This work will directly inform the content of the policy conference on August 18, 2020.
• History and Education: Support for and input into events that elevate the history of and educate the public about the instrumental role Nashville played in the passage of the 19th Amendment. Nashville Public Library’s (NPL) permanent exhibit illustrating this history will open in February 2020 and will serve as a major cornerstone and significant resource for all of the group’s work related to history and education.
• Arts and Culture: Celebrate women in the arts through a lens of women’s rights. This work could include but is not limited to promotions for and participation in existing events as well as programming new events and activities.
• Civic Engagement: Develop opportunities for increasing civic engagement, including voter registration, civic education, and efforts to fight voter suppression. The NPL exhibit and related projects will serve a significant role here as well.
• Communications: Produce and distribute branding materials for the summit. Help coordinate communications across the city related to this campaign. Handle all internal and external communications related to Council activities and to the summit.

Click here for more information on the council and a list of council members.