Ann's Column: Women's Equality Day
WOMEN’S EQUALITY DAY AUGUST 26
Since its first year (1973), I have remembered August 26, Women’s Equality Day. This special day is meant to celebrate women and their contributions to our country, to look back, present, and forward, and especially to commemorate Voting Rights won by women after years of struggling just to be able to vote. From today’s perspective that may seem just another day, like last week’s Pinot Noir Day, or national comic book day. However, its purpose is monumental.
The 19th Amendment was signed in 1920, so obviously, women in the USA have been able to vote for only 102 years. Until 1920, women were literally barred from voting—all women, regardless of background! It took a major women’s rights movement fighting for 72 years to get that Right. The suffragettes finally prevailed after WW I when women’s contribution to the War was recognized on land, in the air, and at sea. We had electricity, and automobiles before then!!
Why did it take so long? Asking that question reminded me that we not only need to celebrate, but also need to remember the power of the vote. For over 200 hundred years, women were deemed unworthy, but more than likely the real reason was to “keep women in their place.” Sound familiar? Those in power often think this way. They don’t want to give up the little power they have, and want to bully others.
Voting and voting rights can be taken away from women and men. The Supreme Court, some Governors, and other officials have shown us that Rights can be taken away, and that mob rule can prevail. There’s still a lot of oppression and inequality in our country, but voting is a good, maybe the only, legal way to fight back. Those who want power and want to keep it know that too. Perhaps that’s why there’s so much fuss about ballots, why people want to look over other’s shoulders to make sure there are no fake ballots, that all is fair. Others may make it difficult for all to vote, but we must, probably more than ever, if we want to keep Democracy.
