Women’s Equality Day is a day proclaimed each year by the United States President to commemorate the granting of the vote to women throughout the country. Women in the United States were granted the right to vote on August 26, 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was certified as law. The amendment was first introduced many years earlier in 1878.

Every president has published a proclamation for Women’s Equality Day since 1972, the year after legislation was first introduced in Congress by Bella Abzug. This resolution was passed in 1971 designating August 26 of each year as Women’s Equality Day.

On Women’s Equality Day, August 26, 2015, women activists from across the country will join forces for a National March and Rally at the U.S. Capitol to promote passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) organized by Katrina’s Dream.

 

The Herstoric March on Women’s Equality Day will start at St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church in Washington D.C. following the 8 a.m. blessing of the walkers. Many will accompany Helene de Boissiere Swanson for the final four miles of this 7,000 mile spiritual pilgrimage to the U.S. Capitol to promote the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. The four-mile route passing the White House and on to the Upper Senate Park at National Mall where top feminists and human rights activists will hold a press conference, and then rally for the ERA.

 

 

Helene Swanson, a resident of Sausalito, California, began her pilgrimage on foot in early 2014, responding to a spiritual call to bear public witness for the ERA. By August 26, often walking alone by the side of the highway, she will have traversed each of the 15 states that have failed to ratify the amendment and pressed legislators in their capitals to take action. Ratification by three more states is needed for the ERA to become a part of the U.S. Constitution.

 

 

As of now, Women’s Rights are  NOT PROTECTED BY LAW.  This needs to be fixed.  So on August 27, 2015, the day following the March and rally, ERA Action in conjunction with Katrina’s Dream are coordinating a lobbying effort to call upon senators and representative to co-sponsor S.J. Res 15 and H.J. Res 51 respectively.

Women’s Rights are currently front and center in the presidential debates. America’s women urgently need a Constitutional Amendment for protection of their rights and to achieve legal equality UNDER THE LAW. ERA will empower women, re-affirm the rights of men, and provide legal protection on issues that affect the LBGTQ Community.

 

Women have waited long enough and refuse to take ‘NO’ for an answer.

 

 

Did You Know That Women Are Still Paid Less Than Men?

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was an important step forward when it comes to combating discrimination, but it was also narrowly focused to address a specific problem: giving victims of discrimination access to the courts for legal redress. The Paycheck Fairness Act is a broader measure.

 

#EqualPayNow

On average, full-time working women earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. This substantial gap is more than a statistic — it has real life consequences. When women, who make up nearly half the workforce, bring home less money each day, it means they have less for the everyday needs of their families, and over a lifetime of work, far less savings for retirement.

President Obama supports passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, a comprehensive and commonsense bill that updates and strengthens the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal work.

The Paycheck Fairness Act is proposed legislation that would add procedural protections to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Fair Labor Standards Act as part of an effort to address male–female income disparity in the United States.

#EqualMeansEqual!

According to the American Civil Liberties Union a white women’s median annual earnings were 77.5% of the male median, but African-American women’s median annual earnings were 64% of the white male median, and Hispanic women’s median annual earnings were 54% of the white male median.

The American Association of University Women also supported the bill, citing the organization’s 2007 research report, Behind the Pay Gap, which showed that women earn less than their male colleagues just one year out of college. The pay gap has widened 10 years after graduation.

 

Caring about aging Baby Boomers of both sexes, and every woman in our lives, implores us to march to the Capitol Wednesday August 26, 2015, to remind politicians: 52% of us are still denied Constitutional equality.

 

 

 

 

Participating Groups to date:

ERA Action, ERA Coalition, We Are Women, Women Matter, NOW, National Congress of Black Women, ProtectiveMoms, UniteWomen.Org., Unite 4 Equality, Inc., At the Threshold, CODEPINK, and The National Equal Rights Alliance.

Organizations supporting the Equal Rights Amendment can be viewed here.

 

Note: Katrina’s Dream is also active in working with the homeless, developing sustainable practices, prison law reform, education in Botswana, developing programs in India, and the full inclusion of women in all areas of life.