Women's Equality Day

I find it amazing that it was only during my mother's lifetime that women gained the right to vote.

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was certified on August 26, 1920. My mother would have been ten years old that year.

From the National Women's History Project:

At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), in 1971 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. This was the culmination of a massive, peaceful 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.

I wonder what Bella Abzug would have to say today about a woman running for president of the United States, albeit under somewhat of a cloud. Both the Democratic and Republican party presidential candidates are viewed by some as among the worst ever. 

While Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are at the top of their respective tickets, there are candidates all the way down to the local level to consider. Between now and the Nov. 8 general election, women can ponder how they want to use that hard-won right to vote. 

--Bernice