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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