August 26 is an important day in history. It is when we celebrate Women’s Equality Day. On this day in 1920, women were granted the right to vote through the certification of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In 1973, Congress designated August 26 as Women’s Equality Day to celebrate this achievement.
Women in New York started the movement to gain voting rights. In 1848, the suffrage movement began at the first Women’s Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, N.Y. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was from Johnstown and later moved to Seneca Falls, is widely credited for launching the movement. Stanton later met and partnered with Susan B. Anthony, who was from Rochester. Anthony was among the first women to cast a vote for U.S. President, when she convinced local election inspectors to allow her and other women to vote in 1872. Her subsequent arrest and trial led to greater awareness of the suffrage fight.
While neither Stanton nor Anthony lived to see victory in the suffrage movement, later New York-based suffrage leaders such as Harriot Eaton Stanton (Stanton’s daughter) and Lucy Burns were among those who helped lead the later years of the suffrage movement. Labor union women also played an active and important role in the movement, standing alongside suffragists and helping the suffrage movement employ many of the same tactics of unions, including demonstrations and political action.
Throughout the fight for women’s suffrage, many suffragists were jailed and even tortured, yet they continued to fight to use their voices for what was right. When the 19th Amendment was ratified, the fight had already taken 72 years. Unfortunately, the fight would continue for 45 additional years for women of color, who did not have full voting rights until 1965. That is when the Voting Rights Act was enacted to ensure ALL citizens had the right to vote without discrimination. It is disturbing to think it was only 60 years ago women of color did not have full voting rights.
Women’s Equality Day also brings awareness to women’s continued efforts to gain full equality. We have come a long way since women were granted full voting rights, but women are still fighting to be truly equal.
Given how many women put everything on the line to gain the right to vote, it is important that we get to the polls every Election Day. While we all come from different walks of life and have different views, we also help shape our future when we get out and vote. Remember that our vote is our voice!
