Women have been fighting for an equal role in our society for at least 170 years since Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony teamed up together in 1851 to begin the fight for the right for women to vote. 2020 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment which afforded women this important right.
Sometimes lost in the dim recesses of our collective memories is the amount of sheer determination and guts it took to gain equality in the voting booth. Women who became known as Suffragettes were not only criticized for their beliefs but were severely and disparagingly attacked as being unlady-like, too manly, harsh and vile hags. They were accused of being a threat to the traditional family which would lead to the end of “true womanhood.” They were accused of not having the intelligence required for voting and if they did their brains would become bigger and heavier causing their wombs to atrophy. It was argued women voting would disrupt family life; reversing gender roles, abusing their husbands and neglecting their children.
Name calling and withering attacks still exist to this day. When President Trump remarked after Kamala Harris was named as the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate that she was “nasty” it was an attempt to belittle and degrade her and all women.
The one-hundred year celebration of the signing of the 19th Amendment should be one of those events we all embrace as a great feat in American history. It is time that we set aside our disgraceful and limiting labels against women which have lingered throughout our history and, instead, truly celebrate how great our country is and can be simply because women and the men that supported them have cared enough to fight for freedom and equality for all.
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