Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Happy Women's Equality Day

Happy Women's Equality Day. Eighty-eight years ago today, the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution gained final ratification. This gave women the right to vote after what Eleanor Flexner called a Century of Struggle.

The first wave of the women's movement in the US worked for, and achieved, a wide range of goals. These included the right of women to speak in public, the right of married women to own property, the right of girls and women to education. Contrary to conventional wisdom, winning the right to vote was not the only goal of the first wave activists--only the most difficult to attain.

This first-wave movement was complicated and contradictory. Just as happens today, achieving rights for women was sometimes set against the goal of achieving rights for people of color.

While much remains to be done, some progress has been achieved. For instance, there are more women in the U.S. Congress than ever before. And women are making inroads in formerly nontraditional occupations.

This is a rich topic that deserves a much more detailed post than I am able to give it at the moment.

Last night, Michelle Obama pointed out that this week also marks the anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. I found myself liking her and wishing that she were running for president..

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