Celebrating Women's Equality Day

In 1973, the U.S. Congress designated August 26^th as Women’s Equality Day to commemorate the ratification of the 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. The amendment was first introduced to Congress in 1878 after decades of marches, lobbies, conventions, hunger strikes, and civil disobedience which led to its passage in 1919 and ratification in 1920.

The journey of women’s suffrage varied by race…  

In the women’s suffrage movement, white women were largely inspired by Native peoples’ matriarchal traditions and Native women’s power and rights, especially Iroquois women, who were asked to speak at conventions and meetings. Even though women owe their right to vote largely to Native women, Native Americans were not considered U.S. citizens until 1924, and therefore were not allowed to vote until 4 years after the 19^th Amendment was ratified.

On paper, the 19^th Amendment granted the right to vote to all female citizens, but Black women could not exercise that right freely. Discriminatory policies such as poll taxes and literacy tests presented a hurdle for many Black voters until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 that outlawed discriminatory voting practices.

Still today, there are U.S. citizens who do not have a vote in Congress. People from U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam do not have full representation in Congress and therefore have no electoral votes in presidential elections, even though they are U.S. citizens and pay federal taxes except for federal income tax. Voter suppression also occurs in the form of voter ID laws, partisan gerrymandering, and denying the right to vote to people with felony convictions.

Stand with OED… 

In celebration of Women’s Equality Day, we invite you to sign the Pledge to ACT Against Racism and Injustice and tell us how you will Stand With OED to act against racism aimed at women of color.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary at ECU…

Join the Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement and the Women and Gender Office on October 7th at 3:00 p.m. for a virtual celebration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment with special guest, Dianna Wynn, president of the League of Women Voters of Wake County, and clips from the HBO film “Iron Jawed Angels.” This virtual event will be held on Microsoft Teams. Please visit the Pirates Vote page on Engage for more information.

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