The History of Women's Equality Day
On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was signed into law, finally giving American women the right to vote. Fifty-one years later, Rep. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.) introduced a Joint Resolution of Congress designating each Aug. 26 as Women's Equality Day. Does this Spark an idea?
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The 19th Amendment
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Women in the United States were not allowed to vote until the passage of the 19th Amendment. While the U.S. Constitution did not prohibit women voting,.there was also no protection for women's voting rights. While the 15th Amendment extended voting protection to all men in America in 1870, women had to work for another half-century before their voting rights became constitutionally protected.
The resolution that ultimately became the 19th Amendment was introduced in Congress in 1878. Internal struggles among suffragists, federal political opposition and World War I derailed congressional passage of the amendment until May 1919, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed the resolution and the Senate followed two weeks later. Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, in August 1920, and on Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution became law.
Bella Abzug
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Bella Abzug was the daughter of Jewish Russian immigrants, Esther and Emanuel Savitsy, and was born in Bronx, New York, in 1920, the year of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Even as a child, Bella challenged the inequalities faced by women, including defying the male-only tradition of saying Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead) when her father died. She received a scholarship to Columbia Law School.
She became a champion for human rights, civil rights and anti-nuclear sentiments. When she was elected to the House of Representatives in 1970, she immediately became a staunch ally of the burgeoning feminist movement.
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The 1971 Resolution
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In 1971, Abzug introduced a joint resolution of Congress designating Aug. 26 of each year as Women's Equality Day. She hoped that the official day would serve each year as commemoration of women's hard-fought right to vote. The resolution also gave authority to the president to issue an annual proclamation commemorating the 19th Amendment and included a specific request for the proclamation.
Presidential Proclamations
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Since 1971, every president has honored this sentiment with an annual proclamation. Each president, in his own words, has recognized the long struggle for women's suffrage and the yet unaccomplished equality of women.
Women's Equality Day Today
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Today, celebrations are held throughout the country each year. The National Women's History Project offers posters, brochures and party planning kits to help people plan their own celebrations of Women's Equality Day.
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