What’s Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander

On August 26, 1920 women were granted the right to vote. It's difficult to think of a world without the League of Women voters and those helpful women staffing the polling stations, but today is only the 90th anniversary of the signing of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

In 1971, Bella Abzug, colorful, hat-wearing, forward thinking Representative from New York introduced a joint resolution to create Women's Equality Day. Intended partly to recognize the dedication and hard work of those who in the past helped guarantee passage of the nineteenth amendment giving women the right to vote, the resolution carried strong language about continuing the fight. The first line reads: "WHEREAS, the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States." Pretty strong language considering there were only eleven women in the 91st Congress.

We've come a long way toward equality-women can now own land in their own names, get credit without a man's signature, and in some cases, earn the same wages as a man doing the identical job. But the forces of progress aren't always as they seem. The 19th amendment was ratified by the state of Mississippi in 1984. And there are still too many situations where being a woman will make it difficult to get a job, do the work, and earn equivalent pay.

Every year on August 26, libraries, schools, some work places and military bases hang posters and, pass out flyers and invite speakers to observe the progress made and encourage persistence in the drive toward equality. The President issues an annual proclamation, which this year reads in part: "(Women) have delivered justice from the bench of our highest court, fought for our country in foreign lands, discovered cures to diseases and joined the ranks of the greatest business leaders of our time. Female college graduates now outnumber their male counterparts. On this Women's Equality Day, we resolve to continue the important work of our nation's foremothers and their successors, and turn their vision of a more equal America into our reality."

But lest things get too serious on such a joyous day, since 2007, gotopless.org has protested the ability of men to go topless in public when women are charged with criminal behavior for doing the same thing.

We wish you a Happy Women's Equality Day-however you choose to enjoy it and whatever you are or aren't wearing.