Suffrage

In 1995, as Program Director of the New York City Commission on the Status of Women,* I had the honor of coordinating “Women’s History: Promises to Keep,” a photo-journal exhibit celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the certification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote. The exhibit depicted the massive civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York. The exhibit was borrowed by several organizations and was exhibited across the country throughout that year.

Women’s Equality Day

Congress Member Bella Abzug (D-NY) (who was also the Commissioner of the New  York City Commission on the Status of Women 1993-1995) fought to have a day established that honored and acknowledged women as equals in American society—with representation as voting members of our nation. She and more than 100,000 other women participated in demonstrations and rallies in more than 90 major cities and towns across the country the largest gender-equality protest in the history of the United States at that time.

The bill was passed in 1973 when the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day.” The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote.

Reflection

Thirty years later, I am reflecting on how far we have come and how much is at stake. My maternal grandmother was born in 1903, without representation. My mother was born without the right to choose what happened to her body. I was born without equal access to work, property, an education, or financial security. We fought for and got those rights in our lifetimes.

Bella’s mantra was, “Never go back, never apologize, and never forget we’re half the human race.”

Never.

Onward!

~ Wendy

August 26, 2025

* Now, the Commission on Gender Equity