Celebrating the Right to Vote

[ysabetwordsmith]

This crossed my desk today.  The link goes to a Democratic website, but other parties probably have their own activities aimed at women voters.  Vote however you want, but VOTE.  People died to win this right.

Ninety-one years ago today, women won the right to vote when the 19th
amendment was enacted. In an era when women occupy corner offices, serve
as Supreme Court justices and travel the world representing America, it's
easy to forget that we won this right less than a century ago.

*Today, we celebrate this victory; the women who fought those battles to
end slavery and for women's suffrage inspire us.* Women have always blazed
a path for the next generation to carry the torch further. That's why I
created Off The Sidelines, an initiative to empower women to get involved
in the political process and make their voices heard.

*For me, getting off the sidelines means women making a difference by
speaking out about the issues that matter to them*. How about you?

*Click here to share what getting off the sidelines means to you and join
Off The Sidelines.

The fact is, we still have a long way to go until women have full
equality. Currently in the US, women make on average 78 cents for every
dollar a man makes; and even though women make up 51% of the population,
we hold just 17% of seats in Congress and only 6 governorships; and as a
result of the 2010 election, for the first time in 30 years, the
percentage of women in Congress actually declined. This is unacceptable.

T*he fact remains that too many women are sitting on the sidelines – we
must get them involved. *It can be as simple as registering to vote,
writing a letter to the editor, giving money to a female candidate who
shares your values or running for office yourself. There are so many ways
we can get more women involved in the political process.

In nine short years we will mark a full century since women won the right
to vote. This next decade will be crucial not only for the future of
women, but also for the future of America. I know we can and will do more
because we have to. We are the solution.

Sincerely,
Kirsten Gillibrand

Comments

[jilara.livejournal.com]

I've had women ask why I vote (I also help run elections), and comment "It's not like my vote matters..." I comment that I didn't have my spiritual ancestresses fight, be tortured, and sometimes die, to win a right so that I could throw it away. I'm passionate about women being involved.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

That's part of it for me. Another part is that, while politicians may largely ignore voters unless people form MASSIVE blocs ... I refuse to make it easy for them. If they're going to run the world into a ditch, I can at least make the bastards work for it.

Re: Yes...

[jilara.livejournal.com]

Precisely. People who don't vote, get involved, and then complain about how things are run? It might not be much, but even little drops of water can form rivers, if there are enough of them.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there are a lot of things I do mainly so I can say "I told you so." when people do something stupid.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I agree.

In fact, I wrote a letter about Women's Equality Day to our local paper. And they printed it too. :-)

Of course it helps that I live in Tennessee and had an exciting few sentences to write about how Tennessee ratified the Ninteenth Amendment (it was a turbulent issue) thus making it the law of the land.