Happy Women's Equality Day

It can be cumbersome to say "Happy Anniversary of the 19th Amendment Which Gave Women the Right to Vote." So isn't it fortunate that somebody came up with the idea of Women's Equality Day?

According to the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC):

Created in 1971 at the prompting of Representative Bella Abzug, one of the Founding Mothers of the NWPC, the U.S. Congress designated August 26th as Women's Equality Day to commemorate the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Women's Equality Day celebrates women's suffrage but also calls attention to women's continued efforts toward full equality.

Terry O'Neill, President of the National Organization for Women, also echoes this sentiment that we still have far to go:

It took women 72 years of ceaseless campaigning to finally win the right to vote in 1920....Women's Equality Day, marks that anniversary. But I don't have to tell you that we have a long haul before women are truly equal....

• Women only make $.78 to a man's dollar. Could you use the extra 22 cents?
• The U.S. has no guaranteed medical leave for childbirth; we're trailing 168 countries in the company of only Lesotho, Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland.
• The U.S. is near the bottom of the list -- again -- in our public support for quality childcare for children of working parents.
• Women only make up 16% of our representatives in Congress.

So on this Women's Equality Day, how can we move forward and achieve real equality?

• Consider a donation to the women's advocacy organization of your choice.
• Call your Representative and tell her/him that you'd like to see action on the Equal Rights Amendment/Women's Equality Amendment.
• Find out from family advocacy groups like MomsRising.org exactly how women and children will be affected by specific elements of the proposed health care reform bill and make your voice heard.
• Support women's rights groups overseas in nations still struggling to guarantee women the right to vote.

And most of all, never take for granted that which took us 72 years to earn. Our right to vote is our access to power. Like a muscle, if we keep exercising it eventually we'll be strong enough to pull open all doors, knock over all barriers, and see to it that a woman's place is anywhere she wants to be.