About National Women’s Equality Day
About National Women’s Equality Day
In an attempt to commemorate women gaining the right to vote, Congress declared August 26th to be Women's Equality Day. Although not an official holiday, the United States has marked Women's Equality Day each year since 1971.
According to the National Women's History Alliance, Rep. Bella Abzug spearheaded legislation in 1971 that would see Congress designate August 26th as Women's Equality Day to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the 19th Amendment. Although the 19th Amendment was first introduced in 1878, it was not added to the Constitution until August 18th 1920, a full 42 years after its initial introduction. According to the Constitution Center, it was later made an official part of the Constitution on August 26th when then-U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed a proclamation certifying the amendment. This date of certification is the date Women's Equality Day commemorates.
According to the National Women's History Project, "the observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment but also calls attention to women's continuing efforts toward full equality."
The same year Women's Equality Day was officially recognized by Congress, on Aug. 26, 50,000 women marched in New York City for the Women's Strike For Equality March, according to TIME. The march was the brainchild of Betty Friedan, according to TIME, who wanted to show the American media the power of second-wave feminism.
Women couldn't vote until the 19th Amendment was passed, but nothing technically prevented them from running for office. So, as noted by Heavy, they did. Her Hat Was In The Ring, a database by Dr. Wendy E. Chmielewski, Dr. Jill Norgren and Dr. Kristen Gwinn-Becker, calculated the number of women who ran for political office before 1920.
The results? According to Heavy, 3,586 women ran in 4,927 campaigns before women got the right to vote.
- Did you know? The first country where women outnumbered men in parliament was Rwanda.
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