Aug 26 | Fri | | Forty-six years ago, in 1971, the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day.” Thanks to Congresswoman Bella Abzug who got it passed, the date was selected to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that granted women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York. Observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality. |