Believe it or not, there was a time, long ago in the United States when women were treated as second-class citizens. Actually, they weren’t even treated like humans. Instead, they were the property of their fathers, husbands, or closest male relatives. They were considered inferior to men. Fortunately, that time has ended.

Naw, I’m kidding. The mentality that views women as inferior incubators with nefarious magic muffins and black magic boobies hellbent on the destruction of menfolk is alive and well.

Conjury coochies aside, we women should take a second to celebrate that moment in history when women joined hands and shot rainbows from their vaginas . . . oh no that was carebears and magic tummies. Ahem. We should celebrate that moment in history when women stood together to demand equality.

In honor of the day women won the right to vote, August 26, 1920, and also to commemorate the same day in 1970 when there was a nationwide women’s rights brouhaha, the US designated August 26th of each year to be Women’s Equality Day.  All the men presidents (there are some provisos and limitations with full suffrage for some citizens) have issued a proclamation every year since then:

“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; and 

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have united to assure that these rights and privileges are available to all citizens equally regardless of sex;

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have designated August 26, the anniversary date of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, as symbol of the continued fight for equal rights: and 

WHEREAS, the women of United States are to be commended and supported in their organizations and activities,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that August 26 of each year is designated as “Women’s Equality Day,” and the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation annually in commemoration of that day in 1920, on which the women of America were first given the right to vote, and that day in 1970, on which a nationwide demonstration for women’s rights took place.”

Thank you, Wiki, you can go now.

So we should all be grateful to our foremothers and suffragettes -those British ass kicking activists- for all they endured in their

Sojourner Truth. Mathew Brady Studio Albumen silver print c. 1864 National Portrait Gallery Accession no. NPG.2002.90. Web. 22 Aug. 2015.

fight to ensure our freedoms (or some of them). Theirs was a hard-won victory. Many women were arrested and force-fed during hunger strikes with varying illnesses resulting from this maltreatment. However, no victory for suffrage was harder won than that fought by African Americans and began by such amazing women as Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Sojourner Truth, and Rosa Parks. African American women and men faced many issues and were oftentimes prohibited from exercising their right to vote. Unfortunately, many people remain targets of various voter prohibiting schemes and gerrymandering.

We still have a long way to go before we actually receive the full rights and privileges available to men. So if you vote, thank a feminist and if you’re one of those women who hate feminism, do get that internalized misogyny looked at. 😉

And props to Finland for being the first country to grant all its citizens full suffrage. =)

Sources: Wikipedia- Women’s Equality Day, African American Woman Suffrage Movement, and List of Suffragists and Suffragettes. Also, Women’s Leadership in American History: Black Suffrage and the Struggle for Civil Rights