08/25/2002

EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10089

WOMEN’S EQUALITY DAY

Today [August 26^th], Americans are celebrating Women’s Equality Day. On August 26^th, 1920, the 19^th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote. Enactment of this amendment was the culmination of a massive civil rights movement by women that had begun many decades before.

In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and others organized a convention in upstate New York "to discuss the social, civil, and religious conditions, and rights of women." One-hundred women and men signed a declaration calling for universal women’s suffrage. In the following years, these campaigners for women’s rights were joined by Susan B. Anthony. For decades, they traveled throughout the U.S. promoting the cause.

By the early twentieth century, a number of states had granted women voting rights. Then came the First World War, in which American women made great strides. Millions worked in war industries. Thousands served as military nurses, and some lost their lives. Their service, both at home and overseas, gave the final impetus to the women’s suffrage movement.

With the adoption of the 19^th Amendment eighty-two years ago, women were legally assured the right to vote. It took many more years of activism to ensure that in law and in practice, all women, irrespective of race or color, were allowed to fully exercise their right to vote.

Women’s Equality Day provides an opportunity for Americans to reflect on how their country slowly but surely moved to live up to the ideals of justice and equality. But in far too many countries, girls and women can still only dream of equality with men. Some even face such extreme human rights violations as genital mutilation or being forced into prostitution or child marriage.

Today, as Americans commemorate Women’s Equality Day, the U.S. continues to speak out for women’s rights around the world. As Secretary of State Colin Powell has said, "It is not just popular opinion, but plain fact: Countries that treat women with dignity, that afford women a choice in how they live their lives, that give them equal access to essential services, give them an equal opportunity to contribute to public life -- these are the countries that are the most stable, viable, and capable of meeting the challenges of the new century."