Aug. 26 is National Women’s Equality Day. This day honors generations of suffragists who fought for women’s constitutional right to vote, including Iowa State University’s very own alumna Carrie Chapman Catt.
Women’s Equality Day has been designated since 1973 by legislation that was spearheaded by Bella Abzug, a former U.S. representative, feminist and civil rights activist.
The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State was established in 1992 to empower citizens to engage in the political process.
Karen Kedrowski, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, spoke about the significance of Women’s Equality Day, more than a century after the official addition of the 19th Amendment.
“Today, women are a majority of voters and vote at consistently higher rates than men,” Kedrowski said. “There are also a record number of women serving in Congress and in state legislatures. However, American women do not yet have constitutional equality and other inequalities persist, such as the persistent gender wage gap.”
Kedrowski shared the message she thinks students should take away from Women’s Equality Day.
“Be grateful for the progress made and the many opportunities women enjoy today, and realize more needs to be accomplished,” Kedrowski said.
Sophia Putnam, a freshman majoring in fine art, explained what women’s equality means to her.
“Women have the same rights and responsibilities as men in society,” Putnam said. “We’re capable of the same things…I think it just means I want to be viewed as a person in the same way that a man is and get the same respect.”
Putnam believes that gender equality has not been entirely achieved and detailed where she thinks progress needs to be made.
“On paper we seem to have the same rights, but there’s still societal expectations that kind of hold us down, and with Roe v. Wade being overturned… in the way that a man’s body is his own body, ours are not still,” Putnam said. “I feel like we should have more say in that. We don’t have equal rights, because men aren’t told what to do with their reproductive systems.”
Women’s Equality Day celebrates the women who shaped society and politics, challenged barriers and paved the way for future generations.
“I think it’s important to celebrate women’s equality so that we remember the reason that we have rights now,” Putnam said. “It helps us value our rights and not take them for granted or let them slip away from us with new legislation.”