Women Celebrate Their Right to Vote
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 27, 2013) -- For the first time, on Aug. 26, 1920, 93 years ago, all female citizens of the United States of America were granted the right to vote when the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified.
Women's Equality Day is a day proclaimed each year by the president of the United States to commemorate the granting of the vote to women on an equal basis with men. In his proclamation issued Friday, President Barack Obama said, “As we reflect with pride on decades of progress toward gender equality, we must also resolve to make progress in our time. Today, we honor the pioneers of women's equality by doing our part to realize that great American dream -- the dream of a Nation where all things are possible for all people.”
Three University of Kentucky offices – Institutional Diversity, Undergraduate Education and Work-Life – have joined with the Kentucky Commission on Women to sponsor the university’s recognition of the historic day and the fearless women and men who led the fight and those first generations to benefit from its success.
On Monday, a showing of the film Makers: Women Who Make America marked the beginning of the university’s celebration. Through modern interviews and priceless archival film, the documentary brought to life the fight, the opposition and today’s benefactors. The film made personal the stories of the trailblazers of the turbulent years, the women who lived through the joy, the heartbreak, the frustration and ultimate triumph of a movement that turned America upside-down.
A Panel of Scholars is planned from noon to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Marksbury Building Auditorium. Five women from UK and the state government will lead the discussion: Nicole Huberfeld, Law and Bioethics; Judy “JJ” Jackson, Institutional Diversity; Margaret Koffler, Kentucky Commisssion on Women; Diane Snow of Medicine and Undergraduate Research; and Carol Taylor of the UK Violence Intervention and Prevention Center.
“In our efforts to expand the awareness of the commission’s promotion of gender equity in the Commonwealth,” said Eleanor Jordan, executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Women, “the University of Kentucky has once again answered our call in a very meaningful and comprehensive way. This two- day event presents opportunities for participants not only to become informed, but to discuss what they have learned, and work with others in developing individual and collective action steps toward full equality for women. The impact of this experience will no doubt be positive, long lasting and far reaching for all who attend.”