Happy Women's Equality Day!
What is the significance of today?
On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the US constitution was ratified and officially signed, granting American women the constitutional right to vote. Today, 101 years later, we continue to celebrate this day as Women’s Rights Day.
Although it is a fantastic day, it also leads us to question why it took so long for women to be recognized as deserving of all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and whether women are indeed treated as equal today. So, let’s take a deeper dive from the past and present to create a deeper understanding of why we all must celebrate Women’s Rights Day!
The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. Here are a timeline of some of the critical moments, event and gatherings that lead to more equality for women.
Women's Suffrage Movement Timeline
Before the Civil War...
As most men were extended the right to vote by the 1830s, women’s suffrage began. Women also wanted the same rights, but unfortunately, the issue of slavery overshadowed this.
1848: Seneca Falls Convention
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott invited many people together to discuss women’s rights and the idea that American women were independent individuals who also deserved their own political identities.
During the Civil War...
1869:
National Woman Suffrage Association & American Woman Suffrage Association were both created and had different opinions. The main difference was that the American Woman Suffrage Association fought to end suffrage on a sate- by- state basis because they didn’t want to endanger Black enfranchisement by tying it together with the campaign for female suffrage.
1890:
Both groups merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association
1920:
After a few states began allowing women to vote, and on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. On August, 26, it was certified by the correct government official which officially ended the struggle for women to vote.
So, women were now granted the right to vote. What next?
1923:
The Equal Rights Amendment, an amendment to the Constitution that prohibited all discrimination based on sex, was proposed but still has yet to be ratified. This affects many women, and especially the LGBTQ+ community, still today.
1971:
To commemorate the 1920 adoption of the 19th Amendment, Women’s Rights Day became a national holiday.
Many steps have been made, and the women who began the women’s rights movements would likely be very proud of our progress as a society. Still, today there are many gender inequalities concerning pay, hours of work, leadership roles, freedom of expression, and many other gender biases. You can read more here.
Although there is still much more to do to increase equality, today is a day to celebrate how far women’s rights have come! For that reason, whether you are a man or woman, we at Pride Palace encourage you to appreciate the women in your life and celebrate this day!
Sources:
- https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/the-fight-for-womens-suffrage#section_1
- https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/why-august-26-is-known-as-womans-equality-day
- https://nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org/history-of-the-womens-rights-movement/