Women's Equality Day is Tomorrow

It’s been 91 years since the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women the right to vote and hold office, an achievement celebrated on August 26 as Women's Equality Day. I had no idea tomorrow is Women’s Equality Day, nor did I have plans to “celebrate” it. Abigail, with Women’s Fund, was the first person who mentioned it to me so I was interested to learn more.

To be honest, I was curious as to whether or not my friends knew about the day – and if they did, what did they think about Women’s Equality Day? So, I do what I always do when I need an answer… I posted the question on Facebook and called a few girlfriends.

First, none of my girls even knew about the day. And a few went so far as to say it was a ridiculous, made-up day. The common theme was that while we’ve come a long way, we still have a long way to go.

A few interesting comments worth passing along:
 

1. “We tend to focus on equality in the workplace, but I truly believe women should be treated and given opportunities in all aspects of life.”
2. “One of the problems I see is that there still aren’t enough women telling young girls they can do and be what they want to be. We need more strong mentors and role models.”
3. “Women before us struggled and women are still struggling today, but if we don’t experience these struggles first-hand we don’t always know how to relate to them.”
4. “There are opportunities for our girls that we didn’t have and certainly our moms didn’t have, but there are still some opportunities not afforded to them – or that will be harder for them to achieve.”
5. “I really hope we can continue to find ways to provide opportunities for women and girls so that someday we truly will be celebrating complete equality in every sense of the way."

My final thought about Women’s Equality Day is that I hope we can continue to raise awareness of the inequities women continue to face today so young girls won’t face the same struggles of those before them. As a mother of a young daughter and an aunt of a teenager girl, I want them to know – and to believe that the sky’s the limit for them.

So whether we celebrate a “ridiculous day” or not, I’m ok with that. The important thing to keep in mind is that Equality Day is just a simple reminder to both men and women not to take rights and opportunities for granted.