Mark your calendars everyone, August 30th needs to be acknowledged and supported not only here in the U.S., but the entire world. Tolerance and diversity is now taught in almost every American workplace and classroom but somehow the gender equality issue has taken a back seat. It is overlooked as a problem perhaps because people feel it doesn’t exist anymore, sadly it still does.
National Women’s Equality Day was started to commemorate the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowing women the right to vote. Though the movement started in 1848, it took 72 years – until 1920 for it to become an amendment. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 took one more step forward for women. Then came the creation of Women’s History Week (later to be Women’s History Month) by President Carter to raise awareness for women’s rights since 1980. All of these steps toward the equality that women deserve are null without the enforcement and support by our laws, employers, teachers, parents and each individual.
This quote in February from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, really puts the gender difference into perspective:
“Of particular concern to me, is the plight of women and girls, who comprise the majority of the world’s unhealthy, unschooled, unfed and unpaid. If half of the world’s population remains vulnerable to economic, political, legal, and social marginalization, our hope of advancing democracy and prosperity will remain in serious jeopardy”.
It seems that every day – we read about women with few rights in other countries being abused and oppressed. It is a global issue and it needs changing. While these issues still plague American women, one of the most commonly ignored rising equality concerns in the U.S. is the gender wage gap. It is a lightning rod for the hidden biases against women in this country. The average woman’s pay in 2007 was 69 cents to a man’s dollar (the lowest since 1991). This crisis has received some recent support; President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 just weeks into his presidency. This act is not a solution, it merely makes it slightly easier to sue an employer for wage discrimination based on gender. A large step in the right direction but a small part of what needs to be done to change the belief system that is keeping the scales tipped.
I have profiled a few organizations on SocialEarth that focus specific programs on women and girls (Plan International, Grameen Shakti and Jolkona). And I have to say that these foundations are dear to my heart. I truly feel that it is a basic civil rights issue (along with gay rights and racial equality) and women and girls deserve the same opportunities as their male counterparts, but to know that women are still not treated fairly – in many ways – drives me to raise awareness even more.
So for your mothers, sisters, wives and daughters – encourage and support them, it is your right. Test your knowledge of women’s history here.
National Women’s History Project (NWHP)
History helps us learn who we are, but when we don’t know our own history, our power and dreams are immediately diminished.
- Organization Type: Non-Profit
- Website: nwhp.org
- Founder(s): Molly Murphy MacGregor, Mary Ruthsdotter, Maria Cuevas, Paula Hammett, and Bette Morgan
- Founded: 1980
- Location:Santa Rosa, CA
- See complete company list here
Sources: nwhp.org; govtrack.us; aauw.org
Contributor Profile: Justine
Justine is passionate about curing social injustice and global environmental issues. She has traveled extensively in Central America and the Caribbean, and is especially interested in the emergence of the Ecotourism industry.
Twitter: @justine72
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