Today is “Women’s INequality Day”

On Tuesday, August 23, I received this email from the League of Women’s Voters:

August 26, otherwise known as Women’s Equality Day, marks the anniversary of the certification of the 19th amendment, which granted some women the right to vote.

Yet in 2022, women have fewer rights than we’ve had in decades. This year, we’re acknowledging Women’s Inequality Day, uniting to demand that lawmakers restore and protect our rights by:

1. Passing voting rights legislation;
2. Adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution; and 
3. Restoring reproductive rights to women and those who can become pregnant.

A Little History

The campaign for woman suffrage involved almost a century of protest to achieve. This long and difficult story is masterfully dramatized in Elaine Weiss’s nail-biting book, The Women’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote. It is an inspiring and a cautionary tale. When push came to shove, white women excluded their black sisters.

Ratification did not ensure full enfranchisement. Decades of struggle to include African Americans and other minority women in the promise of voting rights remained. Many women remained unable to vote long into the 20th century because of discriminatory state voting laws … something we are experiencing again in our day.

You can listen to the author talk about the journey chronicled in her book here:

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

August 26, 1920 is the date this amendment was certified by the Secretary of State. On November 2, 1920, more than 8 million women across the U.S. voted in elections for the first time. My dad was born two years before on July 23, 1918. My mother was born almost a year later on August 8, 1921. I wonder if either of my grandmothers were among those women voters?

It Dawned on Me …

In the conversation between Jon Stewart and Bryan Stevenson referenced in my last post, Jon pointed out how shocking it is that within Bryan’s lifetime, his father and grandfather lacked opportunity and that it was legal to exclude people based on the color of their skin.

Bryan named some of the things that were barred during his growing up years (He was born in 1959). Bryan went on to point out that we make a mistake when we think these things happened a long time ago. We don’t realize that because we don’t talk about it but we need to.

His next statements were an awakening as I saw the parallels for women’s concerns:

“We don’t realize that we are in the very early days of a post-apartheid/post-genocide era in this country.”

I wondered, “What would we call it for women … post-marginalization/post-oppression?”

And then it dawned on me! For women, we are not “post-.”

The pandemic demonstrated the inordinate impact on women that continues to this day. Despite the so-called pro-life rhetoric, our society is not structured to support the needs of women and children.

And so, the League of Women Voter’s call for Women’s INequality Day makes so much sense.

Making Demands?

I always cringe a little whenever I’m encouraged to make a demand on our lawmakers.

From 2016-2019, we pleaded with our so-called representative in the U. S. House to hold a town hall meeting. When he ignored us, we demanded. He has yet to hold such a meeting.

Those of us working for Fair Districts in Ohio began by encouraging:

In 2015, Ohio voters overwhelmingly supported state legislative redistricting reform and in 2018, voters followed up by passing congressional redistricting reform. These reforms were placed in the Ohio Constitution and both reform efforts won in all 88 Ohio counties and by more than 70% of the vote. These reforms focus on encouraging bipartisan map-making and establishing rules that focus on keeping communities or political subdivisions together. Public hearings were added to encourage public participation and more transparency. (Source)

The public did participate. We encouraged … we begged … we pleaded … we presented them with several versions of fair maps … eventually we resorted to demanding!

The legislators ignored us. They got away with gerrymandering the maps in their favor despite the Ohio Supreme Court knocking down every map they proposed as unconstitutional and unrepresentative. They did it until time ran out. They rigged our recent primary election. Ohio is known as one of the worst gerrymandered states in the US.

And when they won, if you can call cheating winning, Bill Seitz, the majority leader of the Ohio House, demonstrated that their only concern is staying in power. He tweeted their willingness to play games with our lives:

Too bad so sad. We win again. Now I know it’s been a tough night for all you libs. Pour yourself a glass of warm milk and you will sleep better. The game is over and you lost.

Bill Seitz, Ohio House Majority Leader

Ohio Fails to Meet Basic Human Needs

On the same day I received the email from the League of Women Voters, this article appeared in the Dayton Daily News:

The state of Ohio ranked 31st in child well-being in a state-to-state comparison in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s national 2022 Kids Count Data Book, noting a rise in mental and behavioral health issues experts find concerning. … “a pandemic atop a pandemic” in reference to children’s and families’ mental health in 2020 and how they were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. … Ohio falls behind other states in other rankings, as well, getting placed 27th in economic well-being, 28th in education, 32nd in health, and 33rd in family and community.

Hope in Things Unseen

Game over, Bill Seitz? I don’t think so! There is hope for an end to gamesmanship. I may not see it in my lifetime, but there is hope!

More and more women are realizing that only collective strength and action will allow us to be free to fight for the kind of society that meets basic human needs.

~Roxanne Dunbar

As women running for office in the 2022 election cycle have set several records, themes of gender have become more pronounced in the national discourse … Black women have set record numbers for candidates in gubernatorial, senate and House races in this cycle. There are also a record number of Latina/Hispanic gubernatorial and US House candidates, and a record number of Asian/Pacific Islander women are running for governor. ~CNN Report

Wednesday night at the SW Ohio Braver Angels Alliance meeting, I met a young woman who is running for the state legislature (wish she represented my district). She has a bright spirit and her light shines. The fact that she attended this meeting is a testament to a desire for a different kind of political discourse.

Hope is critical to our ability to move forward. We have to believe in something we haven’t seen. Hopelessness is the enemy of justice.

~Bryan Stevenson

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.