It is an annual event in The United States. Women’s Equality Day commemorates American women achieving full voting rights under the U.S Constitution by the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. This historic event was the culmination of a massive civil rights movement that spanned decades. On this special occasion, Ex – President Barack Obama shared the views and said, “On Women’s Equality Day, we celebrate the progress that has been made, and renew our commitment to securing equal rights, freedoms, and opportunities for women everywhere.”
Before the Civil War in the U.S, the Movement for Women Suffrage was started. Most of the states in the U.S.A in the 1830s extended voting rights from Rich White Male property owners to just White Men regardless of how much property they owned. A group of Abolitionists gathered in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848 to discuss the problems that women faces and their rights. In the 1890s, The National American Women Suffrage Association emerged and was headed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Idaho and Utah had given Women the Right to Vote before the end of the decades. On August 26, 1920, 19 Amendment was passed to the United States Constitution which granted women the Right To Vote. For the first time in 1971, Women’s Equality Day was celebrated after Congress passed a resolution to mark this event annually.
On this day, the National Organization for Women(NOW) called women to demonstrate equal rights for women and nationwide ‘Strike for Equality.’ Various seminars; workshops to address the issues and problems faced by women in the country are organized on this day.
Students of various schools and colleges are taught about the Struggle and the Difficult Journey that Women faced to gain Right To Vote.
Now, talking about Gender Equality, we all need to be aware of few statistics which would be shared below, and the reason behind sharing these stats is to let people know that what was the stance of women then and now.
SOME STATISTICS
Are we equal?
- Women earn less (10% full-time and 34% part-time workers).
- 70% of minimum wage jobs are done by women.
- 55% take part in the labour market.
“Let us pray that we women realize the reason for our existence: to love and be loved and through this love become instruments of peace in the world.”
These awe-inspiring words are of Mother Teresa, who’s an emblem of woman empowerment. Coincidentally, her birth Anniversary too is on this very Day. Women’s equality and Women’s empowerment both lie on the same page , as the latter is the critical aspect of the former. We do have come forward and yet have a long way to go! Let’s take a pledge to make small efforts everyday towards this august and even-handed cause.
