Joint Resolution of Congress, 1971 Designating August 26 of each year as Women’s Equality Day
WHEREAS, the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States;
and WHEREAS, the women of the United States have united to assure that these rights and privileges are available to all citizens equally regardless of sex;
and WHEREAS, the women of the United States have designated August 26, the anniversary date of the certification of the Nineteenth Amendment, as symbol of the continued fight for equal rights;
and WHEREAS, the women of United States are to be commended and supported in their organizations and activities,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that August 26th of each year is designated as Women’s Equality Day, and the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation annually in commemoration of that day in 1920, on which the women of America were first given the right to vote, and that day in 1970, on which a nationwide demonstration for women’s rights took place.
The US Congress in 1973 designated August 26 as Women’s Equality Day at the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY). The day was picked to commemorate the certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which gave women the right to vote. The Woman Suffrage Amendment was first introduced in 1878 but it took until 1920 before it was signed into law.
Fifty years later on August 26 1970, the largest protest for gender equality in United States history took place in a nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality. Women held demonstrations and rallies in over 90 major cities and small towns to demand equal opportunities in education and employment as well as access to child care twenty four hours a day.
I was reading a speech Angela Robertson gave in 1989 in Vancouver, Canada for the March 8th Coalition. She could give that same speech today with very little change to it, only updating numbers and figures. Even though she was talking about the Canadian government in her speech, you could easily replace it with the American one and it would be just as relevant. She spoke of pay inequality, housing inequality, child care issues, and violence against women. I was eight years old when that speech was read and it is disheartening that thirty five years later, women are still fighting the same fight.
Fast forward and women are still having to demand their equal rights. We are still having to push for equal pay, equal job opportunities, child care, and paid leave. Women still march to demand our rights. I was in a march in June to protest the two year anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Our bodily autonomy is still a fight we must win. For all the strides forward we make in the path to equality, we backslide occasionally. There are so many women that are doing amazing things in the world now but yet the crime statistics for violence against women is staggering.
I hope in my lifetime that we will see true and lasting equality between the sexes. It benefits all of society when the entirety of society is equal and enjoys all the same benefits and opportunities. Until that time we will continue to march and demonstrate and rally so our voices are heard, just as our sisters before us did.
Happy Women’s Equality Day