, Anna Eshoo">Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo, Barbara Lee">Anna_Eshoo.html" ;"title="Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo">Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo, Barbara Lee and Jackie Speier on the 96th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, when women won the right to vote.
Women's Equality Day is celebrated in the United States on August 26 to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the
Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
, which prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the
right to vote
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...
to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. It was first celebrated in 1971, designated by Congress in 1973, and is proclaimed each year by the United States President.
History
The date was chosen to commemorate the day in 1920 when the Secretary of State
Bainbridge Colby signed the proclamation granting American women the constitutional right to vote.
1970s
In 1971, following the 1970 nationwide
Women's Strike for Equality, and again in 1973, as the battles over the
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...
continued, Congresswoman
Bella Abzug of New York introduced a resolution to designate August 26 as Women's Equality Day.
In 1972, President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
issued Proclamation 4147, which designated August 26, 1972, as "Women's Rights Day" and was the first official proclamation of Women's Equality Day. On August 16, 1973, Congress approved H.J. Res. 52, which stated that August 26 would be designated as Women's Equality Day and that "the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation in commemoration of that day in 1920 on which the women in America were first guaranteed the right to vote". The same day, President Nixon issued Proclamation 4236 for Women's Equality Day, which began, in part: "The struggle for women's suffrage, however, was only the first step toward full and equal participation of women in our Nation's life. In recent years, we have made other giant strides by attacking sex discrimination through our laws and by paving new avenues to equal economic opportunity for women. Today, in virtually every sector of our society, women are making important contributions to the quality of American life. And yet, much still remains to be done".
1980s
In 1981, 21 women wore white and chained themselves to the White House to call for the ratification of the
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...
.
2020s
, every president since Richard Nixon has issued a proclamation each year designating August 26 as Women's Equality Day.
Go Topless Day, an annual event started in 2007,
is scheduled for the Sunday nearest Women's Equality Day, because of "Sylvie Chabot's remark that August 26 is Women's Equality Day in the US because it is on August 26, 1920 that women won their constitutional right to vote." The event encourages women to go topless in public, and men to cover their chests by wearing
brassiere
A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, ; ), is a type of form-fitting underwear that is primarily used to support and cover a woman's breasts. A typical bra consists of a chest band that wraps around the torso, supporting two breast cu ...
s or
bikini
A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering ...
s.
See also
* Gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...
* Gender inequality
Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which people are not treated equally on the basis of gender. This inequality can be caused by gender discrimination or sexism. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology ...
* Timeline of women's suffrage
Women's suffrage – the right of women to vote – has been achieved at various times in countries throughout the world. In many nations, women's suffrage was granted before universal suffrage, in which cases women and men from certain Social ...
* Women's History Month
*
Other holidays honoring women
* Rosa Parks Day
Rosa Parks Day is a holiday in honor of the civil rights leader Rosa Parks, celebrated in the U.S. states of Missouri and Massachusetts on her birthday, February 4, in Michigan and California on the first Monday after her birthday, and in Ohio, T ...
(February 4 / December 1)
* National Girls and Women in Sports Day (one day first week of February)
* Susan B. Anthony Day (February 15)
* International Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...
, (March 8)
* Harriet Tubman Day (March 10)
* Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in Mar ...
(second Sunday in May)
* Helen Keller Day (June 27)
References
External links
Presidential Proclamations of Women's Equality Day by decade
* 1970s
1972 (called Women's Rights Day)
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
* 1980s
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
* 1990s
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1999
2000
* 2000s
2004
2009
2010
* 2010s
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2018
2019
2020
* 2020s
2021
2022
2023
2024
19th Amendment
National Archives – 19th Amendment
{{Suffrage
August observances
Observances in the United States
Second-wave feminism in the United States
Women in the United States
1973 establishments in the United States
Recurring events established in 1973