NOW Celebrates Women’s Suffrage/Women’s Equality Day

Congress designated August 26 as "Women's Equality Day" in 1973 to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote.

The movement to recognize this date began on the 50^th anniversary of the Amendment, with a national demonstration called by NOW to "strike for equality."

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica:

"On that anniversary, the National Organization for Women (NOW) called upon women to demonstrate for equal rights in a nationwide "strike for equality." Several demonstrators hung two 40-foot banners from the crown of the Statue of Liberty, while others drew attention to the strike by stopping the ticker at the American Stock Exchange.

More than 100,000 other women participated in demonstrations and rallies in more than 90 major cities and towns across the country, making the strike the largest gender-equality protest in the history of the United States. In New York City 50,000 women marched down Fifth Avenue in support of the women's movement and equal rights; former NOW president Betty Friedan, feminist author Gloria Steinem, and U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug addressed the crowd. The women demanded equal opportunities in both education and employment, as well as access to 24-hour child-care centers."

Rep. Bella Abzug then asked Congress to designate the national observance, which she meant to not just commemorate the ratification of the 19^th Amendment but also highlight the lack of full equality, and how much more needs to be done to achieve full equality. After all, the 19^th Amendment itself failed to provide access to the ballot box for Black women, nor did it include nationwide suffrage for American Indian women.

The right to vote is the gateway to advancing rights and opportunities for women across every aspect of society. But voter suppression, partisan gerrymandering and racial discrimination in redistricting is on the rise, and we need the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to restore and expand access to the ballot.

And we need Congress to recognize the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to explicitly protect equal rights and protections under the law. This Women's Suffrage/ Women's Equality Day, we celebrate the long history of women's suffrage, and rededicate ourselves to continuing this important work