Rallying for equality
Gathering marks suffrage anniversary
About 100 people gathered on the north side of the state capitol Sunday morning to mark Connecticut NOW’s annual Women’s Equality Day. The event marked the 99th anniversary of women’s right to vote and called for new strides in the fight for equality.
About 100 people gathered on the north side of the state Capitol Sunday morning to mark Women’s Equality Day and to hear speakers urge women to use their voices to express their power.
The event, organized by the Connecticut chapter of the National Organization for Women, also marked the 99th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment on Aug. 18, 1920, which gave women the right to vote.
“Our voices are our power and we have to use our voices and express that power every single day,” said Cindy Wolfe Boynton, president of Connecticut NOW.
A variety of speakers addressed women’s role in politics, access to health care, abortion rights, gun control, domestic violence and racism.
“Today, women’s equality is about so much more than the right to vote,” said Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. “It’s about working to ensure that women and girls worldwide have the opportunity to get great jobs and a quality education, it’s about Connecticut and a country that’s free from violence and suppression and discrimination. There’s so much more to do.”
Having more women seek elective office is an important step, said Patti Russo, director of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University, which trains women who want to seek office or work on campaigns.
Connecticut ranks 15th in the nation for women in its legislature, she said. Thirty-three percent of the seats are held by women.
“It could be better,” she said. Jillian Gilchrest, a state representative from West Hartford, described her decision to take on a longtime incumbent and urged more women to run. Another speaker noted that when Gilchrest said she wanted to run, she was told it wasn’t her turn. She ran anyway.
“I ran because I can and you can too,” she said. “What I want to know is when are you going to run? We need more women in elected positions of power.”
The General Assembly has more women than ever before, but
“it ’s not nearly good enough,” Gilchrest said. “It won’t be good enough until we have 50 percent. That’s true equality.”
She ticked off a variety of laws she said passed because women worked hard on them, including paid family leave and safe storage of firearms. More needs to be done, she said.
“All we need is for you to run,” she said. “I ran for office because I was sick of having issues that impact the lives of women and girls put on the back burner. I was sick of the complacency. Our power comes from using our voice. And your voice, like my voice, belongs on the board of education, belongs on the town council, belongs in the state legislature, belongs in the U.S. Congress, and belongs in the White House.”
Brittney Yancy, the greater Hartford ambassador for the United State of Women organization, told the crowd that women of color must have a larger roll.
“I want to speak specifically to my progressive white feminist sisters,” she said. “Step out of your own internalized white supremacy and racism. I’m saying this out of love. Step out of it. We cannot do this work with complacency. I refuse to continue to stand by while brown and black women, indigenous women, are visibly invisible at the table. Do not invite us to the table if our voices are suppressed.”
Black women have been doing the hard work of fighting for equality for centuries. “We know how to do this, but we are not given the voice, we are not given the platform.,” she said. “Gender equity is nothing … if we are complacent about white supremacy.”