Women's Equality Day
VA proudly joins the Nation in celebrating Women's Equality Day each year on
August 26. Congress designated this date in 1971 to honor women's continuing
efforts toward full equality. Spearheading the effort was U.S. Representative
Bella Abzug (D-NY).
The 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote was certified as part of the
U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920. It was the culmination of a 72-year-long
civil rights movement that originated at the world's first women's rights
convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Several generations of
women's suffrage supporters wrote, lectured, marched, and lobbied to achieve
what many Americans considered a radical change to the Constitution. Few early
supporters lived to see victory in 1920.
For more information on VA's Federal Women's Program, contact the
program manager.
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