wcw AUGUST 2023

happening this month
Women’s Equality Day is on August 26
It marks the ratification of the
19th Amendment which women fought for the right to vote
The right to vote,
the cornerstone
of democracy,
belongs to all
citizens — but
this wasn’t always
the case. Until recently,
most countries denied
voting rights to half of their
population: women.
By the early 1900s,
several countries including
Finland, New Zealand,
and the United Kingdom
had legalized voting for
women as the movement
continued to sweep across
the world. In the early 19th
century, American women,
who generally couldn’t inherit property
and made half of a man’s wages in
any available jobs, began organizing to
demand political rights and representation.
In the U.S., the 19th Amendment to the
Constitution was first introduced in 1878,
but it failed to gain traction. It wasn’t
until women’s involvement in the World
War I effort made their contributions
painfully obvious that women’s suffrage
finally gained enough support. Women’s
rights groups pointed out the hypocrisy
of fighting for democracy in Europe
while denying it to half of the American
citizens at home.
It was resubmitted numerous times
until it was finally approved by both the
House and Senate in June 1919. The bill
needed to be approved by two-thirds of
the states, so suffragists spent the next
year lobbying state legislatures to gain
support for the bill.
Because a Constitutional amendment
requires approval from two-thirds of the
states, 36 of them had to ratify the 19th
Amendment before its passage.
On August 24, 1920, Tennessee became
36th and final state to ratify the
amendment, which passed by only one
vote. That one vote belonged to Harry
Burn, who heeded the words of his
mother when she urged him to vote for
suffrage. Secretary of State Bainbridge
Colby signed the amendment into law
on August 26, 1920.
Fifty years later on August 26, 1970,
Betty Friedan and the National Organization
for Women organized a
nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality.
Women across the political spectrum
joined together to demand equal opportunities
in employment and education,
as well as 24-hour childcare centers. This
was the largest protest for gender equality
in United States history. There were
demonstrations and rallies in more than
90 major cities and small towns across
the country and over 100,000 women
participated, including 50,000 who
marched down Fifth Avenue in New
York City.
In 1971, Representative Bella Abzug
Women’s rights groups pointed out the hypocrisy of fighting for
democracy in Europe while denying it to half of the American
citizens at home.
(D-NY) introduced a successful bill
designating August 26 of each year as
Women’s Equality Day. Part of the bill
reads that Women’s Equality Day is a
symbol of women’s continued fight
for equal rights and that the United
States commends and supports them. It
decreed that the President is authorized
and requested to issue a proclamation
annually in commemoration of woman
suffrage and the 1970 Strike for Equality.
A bit of History
The 19th Amendment gave women the
right to vote nationally on August 18,
1920, so why is Women’s Equality Day on
August 26th each year?
The simple answer is that even when
a constitutional amendment has been
ratified it’s not official until it has been
certified by the correct government
official. In 1920, that official was U.S.
Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. On
August 26, 1920, Colby signed a proclamation
behind closed doors at 8 a.m. at
his own house in Washington, D.C, ending
a struggle for the vote that started a
century earlier.
The New York Times ran the story
about the document’s signing on its
front page and noted the lack of fanfare
for the historic event.
Colby had been asked by women’s
suffrage leaders Alice Paul and Carrie
Chapman Catt to allow groups in Colby’s
office for the document’s signing and
to film the event. Instead, Colby told
reporters that “effectuating suffrage
through proclamation of its ratification
by the necessary thirty-six States was
more important than feeding the movie
cameras.”
The Times explained that Colby was
concerned about the rivalry between
Paul and Catt and wanted to avoid a
public scene at the signing.
“Inasmuch as I am not interested in
the aftermath of any of the friction or
collisions which may have been developed
in the long struggle for the ratification
of the amendment, I have contented
myself with the performance in the
The 19th Amendment was resubmitted numerous times until it was
finally approved by both the House and Senate in June 1919.
simplest manner of the duty devolving
upon me under the law,” Colby said.
A package of documents from the
state of Tennessee had arrived by train
in Washington around 4 a.m. It included
the official ratification document from
the state legislature.
How Tennessee became the 36th state
to ratify the amendment on August 18,
1920, was a story in itself. Congress had
passed the proposed amendment a year
earlier, and it was supported by President
Woodrow Wilson.
By the middle of 1920, 35 states had
voted to ratify the amendment, but four
other states—Connecticut, Vermont,
North Carolina and Florida—refused
to consider the resolution for various
reasons, while the remaining states had
rejected the amendment altogether.
So, Tennessee became the battleground
to obtain the three-fourths of
states needed to ratify the amendment.
Harry T. Burn, a 24-year-old legislator,
was set to vote against the amendment,
but switched his vote on the Tennessee
state house floor at the urging of his
mother, assuring the 19th amendment’s
ratification.
Yet, even after Burn’s deciding vote,
anti-suffrage legislators tried desperately
to nullify the previous vote.
In 1971, Representative Bella Abzug
championed a bill in the U.S. Congress
to designate August 26 as “Women’s
Equality Day.” The bill
says that “the President
is authorized and
requested to issue a
proclamation annually
in commemoration
of that day in 1920, on
which the women of
America were first given
the right to vote.”
In 1972, President
Richard Nixon 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.”
As a footnote, the amendment certification
process has changed since 1920.
Now, the Archivist of the United States,
who heads the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA), is responsible
for finalizing the ratification process.
Back in 1920, Secretary Colby’s
attorney reviewed the documents that
arrived from Tennessee. Today, NARA’s
Office of the Federal Register reviews
the documents and writes the proclamation
for the Archivist of the United
States to sign.
Women’s Equality Day
Timeline
July 19-20, 1848
Seneca Falls Convention
The first women’s rights convention
organized by women, including suffragists
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia
Mott, is held at Seneca Falls, New York,
sparking the movement that leads to the
passage of the 19th Amendment.
August 26, 1920 American Women
Gain the Right to Vote
The U.S. Congress adopts the 19th
Amendment, also known as the ‘Susan
B. Anthony Amendment,’ giving women
the right to vote.
30 WEST COAST WOMAN AUGUST 2023