Women’s power, vote at 100
On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment finally became part of the U.S. Constitution. It states that “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.” The most basic expression of participation and equality in our democracy was legalized for women only 100 years ago.
The year 2020 is an important year to reflect on this milestone and regroup: where are we on the vision for gender equality that drove the women’s suffrage movement and how do we work toward fulfilling that vision? In short, we’ve come a long way, and we still have a long way to go.
Let’s start by remembering that women of color did not get the vote in 1920. Poll taxes, literacy tests, citizenship barriers and other forms of discrimination prevented men and women of color from voting. Native American women started voting when Native Americans were granted citizenship in 1924. In 1952, federal law gave Asian Americans, including women, citizenship and voting rights. The 24th Amendment to the Constitution abolished poll taxes and voting literacy tests, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed racial discrimination in voting — both greatly increasing ballot access for African American men and women.
According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, more women than men are registered to vote and more women than men turn out to vote. More women are also running for office than ever before, yet women still lag substantially behind men in gaining elected office. As of 2018, women held 20.6 percent of the 535 seats in Congress, 23.7 percent of the 312 statewide elected offices in the country and 25.4 percent of the 7,383 state legislators in the United States are women, according to the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics.
What are some of the challenges that women face in the private sector? Women in Connecticut make 79 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts, African American women make 58 cents and Latina women make 47 cents. Connecticut recently joined a number of states in prohibiting employers from asking prospective employees about pay history in order to reduce the chronic gender pay gap that follows women from job to job. IWPR estimates it will be 2059, however, before women in the United States have equal pay.
Sexual harassment in the workplace not only violates women’s basic human rights, but also creates substantial barriers to women’s advancement in the corporate context. A recent study found that one in four women experience workplace sexual harassment. According to the EEOC, women are particularly vulnerable to harassment in tipped worker businesses, when working in isolated situations, when working without legal immigration status, when working in male-dominated jobs and when “working in a setting with significant power differentials and rainmakers.”
A recent McKinsey Global Institute study cites a number of barriers to gender equity we must address in addition to the disparities mentioned above. These include: women’s labor force participation, particularly in non-traditional (STEM) fields; women in leadership, managerial and board of director positions; work supports such as paid family medical leave; education for women and girls; health care for women and girls; access to institutions of power and access to capital; and finally, autonomy and physical security — freedom from all forms of domestic and sexual violence.
Here are four inspirational women in Connecticut today who are addressing these barriers in both the private and public sectors:
Sheryl Battles, vice president, Global Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement, Pitney Bowes, drives business results while empowering women in her company and throughout the region.
Gretchen Carlson paved the way for #MeToo with her historic 2016 sexual harassment complaint against chairman of Fox News Roger Ailes, and she is changing how we think about corporate non-disclosure agreements.
Denise W. Merrill, Connecticut Secretary of the State, has long supported and expanded democratic participation, as well as groundbreaking legislation on the state level that promotes gender equity.
Patricia Russo, executive director, Women’s Campaign School at Yale University, runs the most influential non-partisan, issueneutral political campaign training program for women interested in running for office or campaign management.
On Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at YWCA Greenwich, please come hear these inspirational women share their stories and their strategies for empowering women and girls, as we mark both the centennial of women’s suffrage and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday. As Dr. King wrote: “So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote, I cannot make up my mind — it is made up for me.”