Alice Paul Archives | Gloria FeldtGloria Feldt

Three Ways Not to Celebrate Women’s Equality Day – August 26, 2011

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Gloria Feldt

As second wave feminism gathered peak velocity forty years ago, the late bombastic and behatted Congresswoman (D-NY) Bella Abzug persuaded Congress to designate August 26th as Women’s Equality Day. It recognized the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that in 1920 gave all U.S. women the right to vote.

There are many reasons to celebrate the 91st anniversary of women winning the ballot, which some suffragist leaders mistakenly believed culminated the struggle for women’s rights. But it turns out the solution to a problem changes the problem–creating uncomfortable new questions about the value of equality and what to do once we get there.

We’ve come a long way, maybe…

Posted in Activism, Feminism, Gender, Leadership, No Excuses, Politics, Power, Women & Politics, Women & Work, Women's History, Women's Rights | Tagged 19th Amendment, Alice Paul, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Equal Rights Amendment, gender equality, Gloria Feldt, Hillary Clinton, infinite possibilities, Michelle Bachmann, Rebekah Brooks, Reproductive Rights, Rosie the Riveter, Senator Patty Murray, women in politics, Women's Equality Day, Year of the Woman | 11 Comments

Courageous Leadership and the Equal Rights Amendment

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Gloria Feldt

Today, March 22, is the anniversary of the U.S. Senate’s passage in 1972 of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a constitutional amendment that would–IF it had been ratified by 3/4 of the states by its ten-year deadline in 1982– have ensured equal rights could not be denied on the basis of gender.

Let me tell you a story about leadership, persistence, and courage.

The original ERA, first introduced in Congress in 1923, was written by Alice Paul, a women’s rights activist Alice Paul toasting the passage of the 19th amendment to the Constitution giving women the right to votewho was instrumental in the 1920 ratification of the 19th amendment, which guaranteed women’s right to vote. Paul also started the National Women’s Party, believing that otherwise women’s concerns would never be taken seriously by politicians.

The ERA has been re-introduced in nearly every session of Congress since then. Bet you didn’t know that, did you? We don’t hear too much about it, bu it’s still very much alive and with the election of Barack Obama there’s a resurging movement to restart the ratification process and get the three additional states needed to give women equal rights in the Constitution that didn’t even consider them citizens when it was written.