From slut shaming every woman in the electorate to suppressing minority women’s votes, we are reminded that now, even 100 years later, the 19th amendment was just a step in the fight. An important one, but still just a step.
No doubt women have made great progress in the past 100 years, but true equity eludes us. We now comprise nearly half the workforce, yet we’re subject to a pay gap that threatens our economic security from the moment we enter the workforce. Women, disproportionately women of color, hold nearly two-thirds of the country’s low-wage jobs, undervalued labor that is essential to a functioning economy.
We’re confronting a workplace that hasn’t adjusted to our presence, one that’s modeled on an outdated notion of how families work and old paradigms that favor men. And we’re still encountering the outright racism and sexism that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez so eloquently called out last month after a fellow legislator referred to her with a vulgar and gendered insult. His dismissive attitude represents an “acceptance of violence and violent language against women [and] an entire structure of power that supports that,” Ocasio-Cortez said, calling for a change to dehumanizing bigotry and misogyny that’s so deeply ingrained in our culture. Her commanding presence on the House floor encapsulated both how far women have come since the 19th Amendment was passed – but also how far we still have to go.
Change takes time, no matter how urgently we need it or how impatient we are to see it happen. But right now is an opportune moment: With the country reeling from a global pandemic, a controversial presidency and a broad-based movement against 400 years of structural racism, the time feels ripe to push for sweeping changes to the status quo. And while we might draw inspiration from the determination of the early feminists, we must broaden the goals and acknowledge that there will be no justice, equity or equality until everyone has access to the same basic civil rights.
https://www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value/feature/women-got-right-vote-100-years-ago-battle-equality-far-ncna1236937