Activists also called for continuing efforts to PASS the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) for full Constitution Equality of women in America. Activists also discussed progress that they were making in the campaign for the E.R.A. Activists continue to work in Congress and among state legislative bodies to continue to work to pass the E.R.A.
Rockville Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio spoke of her own inspiration of an early career challenge, seeking her to pursue women’s equality issues. Senator Forehand spoke of the challenges of women suffragists and equality for women in politics.
Montgomery County Business & Professional Women (BPW) Secretary Susan Horst was a major organizer of the event and deserves our thanks. An article on the event was also posted in the Rockville Patch.
A reporter from the local Gazette newspaper also covered the event, and we look forward to their story.
Women’s Equality should never be a question.
It must be a declaration.
It must be a Constitutional Right for ALL American Women.
======================
Photos from the DC / Rockville Area Women’s Equality Day Event – August 26, 2011
(As we get better photos, we will share links to them – these are just spontaneous photos captured from Jeffrey Imm’s iPhone.)
United for Equality's Carolyn Cook Speaks to Gazette Reporter Chris
Sponsored by:
MC Business & Professional Women, United 4 Equality, LLC, MC National Organization for Women, MC American Association of University Women, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) - The Time Has Come NOW!
We still have the open issue of the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) that has not yet been ratified and which needs the attention of American government leaders, American government representatives, and the women and men of the American public.
So we will be at the White House on Women’s Equality Day, urging President Barack Obama to make women’s full Constitutional equality a priority in his administration!
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), United4Equality LLC, and local area chapters of the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.) will jointly hold a protest and candle light vigil at the White House on Women’s Equality Day to urge our president to remember that once again this year, half of the nation still does not yet have full Constitutional Equality. We will have candles – and we will hold this rain or shine! We urge you to join us!
— National Women’s History Museum – Senior Vice President, Ann Stone
— Sewall Belmont House & Museum – Lead Docent, Erin Dexter
— Business & Professional Women USA – Immediate Past President and Bowie Councilwoman, Honorable Diane Polangin
— Coalition of Labor Union Women – Executive Director, Carol Rosenblatt
— Event Hosts – United For Equality, Responsible For Equality & Liberty
— Open Mike for Women on their views about Women’s Rights in America Today
Tell President Obama We Will Continue to Shine a Light for Women's Constitution Equality
Event Logistics and Contacts:
Date: Thursday, August 26, 2010 — in front of north side of the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC
— 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM – Rally for Women’s Equal Rights at Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, across from Lafayette Park
— 8:15 PM to 9:30 PM – Candlelight Vigil and Remembrance of Women Leaders in front of White House at Lafayette Park and Pennsylvania Avenue.
Public Transportation encouraged: On-street parking is not available near the White House, and use of public transportation is strongly encouraged. Parking is available in parking lots near the Metro Center station or Farragut North or Farragut West Metro Stop, and then either walk (or use the subway for a short few stops if parking at Metro Center) from a nearby metro stop – see details below.
Restrooms/Public telephones: The nearest restrooms and public telephones to the White House are in the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion (the park area south of the White House) and in the White House Visitor Center. Restrooms or public telephones are not available at the White House.
Lafayette Park in the Direction of the White House - Keep Walking to the Lafayette Park Sidewalk facing the White House
Parking Options Near White House: — 15th and 17th Streets are the ‘bordering’ streets East and West.
— To the West, (NY Avenue-E)/F/G Streets sometimes has parking on the street
— Pennsylvania Avenue between 17th and 18th may have parking and there are parking garages in this block of Pennsylvania Avenue
— Best chance for parking is in the Metro Center area as people are heading home from work, but be careful if you park in a garage to check to see what time it closes.
– Parking lots that we have seen within a few blocks of Metro Center near to Freedom Plaza (and National Theater) include:
– PMI
— 1220 E Street, NW – Enter on E Street between 12th and 13th Streets
— 424 11th Street, NW
— 1325 G Street, NW – Enter on G Street between 13th and 14th Streets
– QUICK PARK
— 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW – Enter on 13th Street between E and F Streets
FARRAGUT NORTH METRO STATION to WHITE HOUSE Walking Directions:
1. Exit station through CONNECTICUT AVE & K ST NW entrance.
2. Walk a short distance S on Connecticut Ave NW.
3. Walk straight on 17th St NW.
4. Walk approx. 1 block S on 17th St NW.
5. Turn left on I St NW.
6. Walk a short distance E on I St NW.
7. Turn right on Connecticut Ave NW.
8. Walk approx. 1 block S on Connecticut Ave NW.
9. Bear right on Jackson Pl NW.
10. Walk approx. 1 block S on Jackson Pl NW.
11. Turn left on Pennsylvania Ave NW.
12. Walk approx. 1 block E on Pennsylvania Ave NW.
— Reverse Directions back to Farragut North
Suffering Suffragettes material below provide from JoAnna London, a supporter of the League of Women’s Voters (LWV)
———————————————————–
This is the story of our Grandmothers & Great Grandmothers who lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailednonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs askingfor the vote.
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.�
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden’s blessingwent on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of‘obstructing sidewalk traffic.’
(Lucy Burns)
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars aboveher head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gaspingfor air.
(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed herhead against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate,Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging,beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the’Night of Terror’ on Nov. 15, 1917,when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered hisguards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there becausethey dared to picket Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women’s only water came from an open pail. Theirfood–all of it colorless slop–was infested with worms.
(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeksuntil word was smuggled out to the press.
So, refresh my memory. Some women won’t vote this year because–why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work?Our vote doesn’t matter? It’s raining?
(Mrs. Pauline Adams in the prison garb she wore while serving a sixty-day sentence.)
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO’s newmovie ‘Iron Jawed Angels.’ It is a graphic depiction of the battlethese women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the pollingbooth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
(Miss Edith Ainge, of Jamestown , New York )
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But theactual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.Sometimes it was inconvenient.
(Berthe Arnold, CSU graduate)
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women’s history,saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talkabout it, she looked angry. She was–with herself. ‘One thoughtkept coming back to me as I watched that movie,’ she said.‘What would those women think of the way I use, or don’t use,my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just�
younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.’ Theright to vote, she said, had become valuable to her ‘all over again.’
HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history,social studies and government teachers would include the movie intheir curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhereelse women gather. I realize this isn’t our usual idea of socializing,
but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I thinka little shock therapy is in order.
(Conferring over ratification [of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution] at [National Woman’s Party] headquarters, Jackson Pl [ace] [ Washington , D.C. ]. L-R Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, Anita Pollitzer, Alice Paul, Florence Boeckel, Mabel Vernon (standing, right))
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn’t make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: ‘Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.’
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought sohard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party – remember to vote.
(Helena Hill Weed, Norwalk , Conn.�
�
Serving 3 day sentence in D.C. prison for carrying banner, ‘Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.’)History is being made.
Carolyn Cook leads the social justice enterprise United4Equality, LLC, dedicated to ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) by 2015, and in support of other social justice issues for women.
Carolyn Cook has invested three years pro-bono on a new strategy for E.R.A. She lobbied Congress and secured a House sponsor to introduce a proposed bill for the E.R.A.
Carolyn works with Maureen Gehrig in support of the United4Equality social justice enterprise, and has been an activist in many public events including Women’s Equality Day, International Women’s Day, and in support of human rights groups challenging the barbaric practice of stoning against women.
United4Equality on Women's Equality Day 2009 - Maureen Gehrig (Left) and Carolyn Cook (Right)United4Equality's Carolyn Cook and Supreme Court Justice Ginsberg (Photo: Facebook)United4Equality on Women's Equality Day 2009 - Carolyn CookUnited4Equality on Women's Equality Day 2009 - Carolyn Cook and Maureen Gehrig (Left) and Other SupportersUnited4Equality on Women's Equality Day 2009 - Carolyn CookUnited4Equality on Women's Equality Day 2009 - Maureen GehrigUnited4Equality on Women's Equality Day 2009 - Maureen Gehrig (Left) and Carolyn Cook (Right)United4Equality at Public Awareness Event in Washington DC's Georgetown for International Women's Day 2010 (Carolyn Cook - Right)United4Equality at Public Awareness Event in Washington DC's Georgetown for International Women's Day 2010 (Carolyn Cook - Right)United4Equality at Lincoln Memorial on July 11, 2010 - Standing with Human Rights Activists Defying Stoning (Carolyn Cook - far left, and Maureen Gehrig - left) United4Equality at Lincoln Memorial Defying Stoning of Women (Carolyn Cook - Left, and Maureen Gehrig - Right) United4Equality at Lincoln Memorial Speaking Out for Women's Right: Maureen Gehrig
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) plans to hold a public awareness street corner event in Washington DC’s Georgetown on Saturday March 6 from 4 to 6 PM regarding women’s human rights, in recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8. The event will be held on the corner in front of the PNC Bank at 1201 Wisconsin Avenue, on the corner of Wisconsin and M Streets NW.
— Call for an End to Rape as Weapon of War and Violence against Women!
— Over 1,000 women raped per month in the Congo – destroying families!
— Help now at GabkulFoundation.org
— Demand Constitutional Equality for all American Women in the United States!
— Call for Your Legislators and State Govt to Support the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.)!
— See ERA NOW Web Site at http://bit.ly/eranow
— Educate Others on the Continuing Plight of “Honor Killings,” Stonings, and Religious Extremist Hate and Violence against Women!
— DVD of “The Stoning of Soraya M” on March 9!
— Find Out More at RealCourage.org
Washington DC's Georgetown: Corner of Wisconsin and M Streets NW
Logistics for Georgetown Public Awareness Event
— Georgetown Site – 1201 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, DC 20007-3221 – in front of PNC Bank (aka Farmers and Mechanics)
— (Note PNC Bank: closes Saturday at 4:00)
— click on link for “street view”
— Transportation by Car: There is a Colonial Parking Lot at 3222 M St. NW – Shops at Georgetown Park — allow plenty of time for parking, or prepare to be “dropped off” – don’t count on any streetside parking. The lot is essentially half a block away (north) from PNC Bank event location
— Transportation by Subway: Good 15-20 minute walk. Take subway to Foggy Bottom Metro Stop (same stop we used for April 4 Lincoln Memorial rally)
1. Exit station through FOGGY BOTTOM METRO STATION entrance.
2. Walk approx. 1 block N on 23rd St NW.
3. Turn left on Washington Circle NW.
4. Walk approx. 1 block W on Washington Circle NW.
5. Bear left on Pennsylvania Ave NW.
6. Walk approx. 4 blocks NW on Pennsylvania Ave NW.
7. Bear left on M St NW.
8. Walk approx. 3 blocks W on M St NW.
Location: Central Rappahannock Library, 1201 Caroline St., Fredericksburg, VA 22401
If you are a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and would like to help with efforts in Virginia to get the ERA ratified, please plan on attending this important meeting! We will be discussing strategy and efforts needed to achieve ratification.
Help us expand the ERA network by passing the word to your friends and groups that may be interested in participating. Please invite your Facebook friends to the event and share the link.
Everyone who supports the ERA is welcome to attend.
Let’s make 2010 a turning point for women’s rights in Virginia. Together, we truly can make a difference!
—-
This event is sponsored by Virginia NOW. Diana Egozcue is the point of contact and can be reached at 540-286-3775 or dclj@comcast.net for further information.
We have received the following action alert on the ERA in New York State:
NYS Senate to Vote on Equal Rights Amendment to NY Constitution
Urgent! WE NEED YOU to take action immediately!
Today, we at NOW-NYS learned that, in a few days, Senate Bill #3489 (the NYS Equal Rights Amendment) is coming up for a vote on the NYS Senate floor. The legislation “provides that no person shall, because of sex, be subjected to any discrimination in his or her civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the State.” In short, the bill bans gender-based civil rights discrimination.
For the past four years, I, as NOW-NYS President, have been lobbying for this measure. Now, there’s a very real chance to make it happen. But we need to get out the vote for this bill.
Once the bill passes the Senate, it will then go to the NYS Assembly, where it will be up to Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein (D), to allow this legislation onto the floor.
However, this is not an ordinary bill but a Constitutional Amendment, whose passage in New York is a multi-step and multi-year process wherein: 1) the Legislature introduces a bill, 2) the Attorney General approves the bill, 3) the Senate and Assembly must pass the bill by a majority before the end of a two-year legislative session.
Then: 4) after the election, at the start of the next two-year legislative session, the Constitutional Amendment must age for three months before the Legislature can vote on it ONCE AGAIN. And: 5) assuming legislative passage, the Amendment must finally be approved by the voters.
So this is the very first step in getting our NYS Equal Rights Amendment. But an important step it is! And to get this very big ball rolling WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Take Action now by contacting your Senator. Urge her or him to vote for Senate Bill #3489. It’s time for New York State to make sure women are protected by the New York State Constitution!
August 26, 1920
The Day the Suffrage Battle Was Won
By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com Finally, the long battle for the vote for women was won when a young legislator voted as his mother urged him to vote.Votes for women were first seriously proposed in the United States in July, 1848, at the Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. One woman who attended that convention was Charlotte Woodward. She was nineteen at the time. In 1920, when women finally won the vote throughout the nation, Charlotte Woodward was the only participant in the 1848 Convention who was still alive to cast her vote. Eighty-one years old, she cast her vote proudly.
Some battles for woman suffrage were won state-by-state by the early 20th century. Alice Paul and the National Women’s Party began using more radical tactics to work for a federal suffrage amendment to the Constitution: picketing the White House, staging large suffrage marches and demonstrations, going to jail. Thousands of ordinary women took part in these — a family legend is that my grandmother was one of a number of women who chained themselves to a courthouse door in Minneapolis during this period.
In 1913, Paul led a march of eight thousand participants on President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration day. (Half a million spectators watched; two hundred were injured in the violence that broke out.) During Wilson’s second inaugural in 1917, Paul led a march around the White House.
Opposed by a well-organized and well-funded anti-suffrage movement which argued that most women really didn’t want the vote, and they were probably not qualified to exercise it anyway, women also used humor as a tactic. In 1915,
Why We Don’t Want Men to Vote
Because man’s place is in the army.
Because no really manly man wants to settle any question otherwise than by fighting about it.
Because if men should adopt peaceable methods women will no longer look up to them.
Because men will lose their charm if they step out of their natural sphere and interest themselves in other matters than feats of arms, uniforms, and drums.
Because men are too emotional to vote. Their conduct at baseball games and political conventions shows this, while their innate tendency to appeal to force renders them unfit for government.
During World War I, when women took up jobs in factories to support the war, as well as taking more active roles in the war than in previous wars. After the war, even the more restrained National American Woman Suffrage Association, headed by Carrie Chapman Catt, took many opportunities to remind the President, and the Congress, that women’s war work should be rewarded with recognition of their political equality. Wilson responded by beginning to support woman suffrage. In a speech on September 18, 1918, he said,
We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of right?
Less than a year later, the House of Representatives passed, in a 304 to 90 vote, a proposed Amendment to the Constitution:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any States on Account of sex.
The Congress shall have the power by appropriate legislation to enforce the provisions of this article.
On June 4, 1919, the United States Senate also endorsed the Amendment, voting 56 to 25, and sending the amendment to the states.
Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan were the first states to pass the law; Georgia and Alabama rushed to pass rejections. The anti-suffrage forces, which included both men and women, were well-organized, and passage of the amendment was not easy.
When thirty-five of the necessary thirty-six states had ratified the amendment, the battle came to Nashville, Tennessee. Anti-suffrage and pro-suffrage forces from around the nation descended on the town. And on August 18, 1920, the final vote was scheduled.
One young legislator, 24 year old Harry Burn, had voted with the anti-suffrage forces to that time. But his mother had urged that he vote for the amendment and for suffrage. When he saw that the vote was very close, and with his anti-suffrage vote would be tied 48 to 48, he decided to vote as his mother had urged him: for the right of women to vote. And so on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th and deciding state to ratify.
Except that the anti-suffrage forces used parliamentary maneuvers to delay, trying to convert some of the pro-suffrage votes to their side. But eventually their tactics failed, and the governor sent the required notification of the ratification to Washington, D.C.
And so on August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution became law, and women could vote in the fall elections, including in the Presidential election.
