As we appreciate the freedoms and democracy that come with Independence Day, it’s worth recognizing how long women and people of color have had to fight for equal rights, equal protection, equal justice, and equal opportunity–and still do.
In July of 1776, 90% of of the 500,000 African Americans living in the colonies were enslaved with no rights. Married women could not own property, sign contracts, vote, hold political office, and if they earned any wages, those went to her husband; in marriage, she lost her independence. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1865 prohibited slavery, and five years later in 1870 the 15th Amendment was ratified giving black men the right to vote. It took another 42 years for the 19th Amendment to pass, giving white women the right to vote in 1920. It would be another 45 years before women from other racial and ethnic minorities would win protection for their vote under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Women with disabilities didn’t win protection of the vote until 1990 with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Equal Rights Amendment, first introduced in 1923, has still not been ratified. It would guarantee the equality of rights under the law for all persons regardless of sex. The fact that the ERA still has not been officially ratified by congress, along with the United State’s notorious lack of laws to protect equal pay, equal pensions, and equal parental leave, ranks the United States behind countries such as China, India, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Qatar–countries we tend to think of as highly repressive of women–in the Economic World Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap report. According to the report, it will take another 134 years to reach gender parity.
We may not be positioned to accelerate gender parity all around the world, but we are certainly doing it right here in Alabama. To find out more on Momentum’s Impact, read our 2024 Impact Report.
