♀️🗳️ Women’s Equality Day – August 26 🗳️♀️
There was a time in the United States when a woman could work.
Pay taxes.
Own a business.
Raise children.
Run a household.
Contribute to her community.
Have opinions about absolutely everything happening in the country,
and still be told:
You don't get a vote.
Women’s Equality Day, observed August 26, commemorates a major turning point in American history: the certification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, prohibiting denial of the right to vote on the basis of sex.
It took decades of organizing.
Petitions.
Speeches.
Marches.
Picket lines.
Arrests.
Arguments around dinner tables.
Women being told to sit down, calm down, wait their turn, be reasonable, stop causing trouble,
They did not.
Thank goodness.
And while August 26 celebrates an extraordinary victory, it's also a good day to remember that history is usually more complicated than the tidy paragraph we learned in school.
The 19th Amendment changed America.
It did not make every American woman's path to the ballot box equal overnight. Discriminatory laws and practices continued to prevent many Black women and other women of color from voting for decades afterward.
So today isn't merely a birthday party for an amendment.
It's a day to celebrate progress, understand the struggle behind it, recognize the work that remained afterward—and appreciate the generations of women who kept showing up.
♀️ Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Women fought for the vote. I think we can all agree they also fought for our right to buy unnecessary coffee mugs with inspirational sayings on them.
🗳️ Seventy-Two Years Is a Long Time to Keep Saying “We Mean It”
A familiar starting point in the American women's suffrage story is Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.
There, women's-rights advocates gathered for a convention that challenged assumptions about women's roles in American society.
Voting was one of the demands.
And the response from much of society was essentially:
Absolutely not.
So women organized.
And organized.
And organized some more.
They lectured.
Published newspapers.
Circulated petitions.
Lobbied lawmakers.
Held conventions.
Marched.
Picketed.
Endured ridicule.
Were arrested.
Some went on hunger strikes.
Generations of activists worked on the cause, and many of the women who began the struggle did not live long enough to see the amendment ratified. The National Archives describes the campaign as a decades-long effort involving everything from state-by-state campaigns to court challenges, silent vigils and civil disobedience.
Imagine working toward something for most of your adult life,
knowing you might never personally benefit from it.
That's commitment.
✉️ And Then a Mother Wrote Her Son a Letter
By 1920, the proposed 19th Amendment needed one more state to reach the required three-fourths of the states.
Attention turned to Tennessee.
The vote there was extraordinarily close.
One young state legislator, Harry Burn, had opposed ratification.
Then came a letter from his mother, Febb Burn, encouraging him to support women's suffrage.
When the crucial vote arrived, Burn voted in favor.
Tennessee became the 36th state needed for ratification.
And somewhere in the great history of mothers telling their children what they ought to do,
Febb Burn had an exceptionally strong entry.
Tennessee's ratification cleared the final constitutional hurdle on August 18, and Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby formally certified the amendment on August 26, 1920.
Hence today's date.
📜 What the 19th Amendment Actually Did
The amendment is remarkably short.
Its central principle is that the right of U.S. citizens to vote cannot be denied or abridged by the United States or a state “on account of sex.”
That's the legal milestone we're commemorating.
But here's where history needs more than the bumper-sticker version.
Ratification did not mean every woman suddenly walked into a polling place without barriers.
Black Americans continued facing poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, violence, and other discriminatory practices, particularly in the South.
Native American citizenship and voting rights had their own complicated legal history.
Asian American women faced citizenship restrictions tied to discriminatory immigration and naturalization laws.
So the 19th Amendment was enormous.
And unfinished.
Both things can be true.
History is annoyingly fond of nuance.
♀️ So How Did Women’s Equality Day Become a Thing?
Decades later, women were still organizing around equality in employment, education, politics, and other areas of American life.
Representative Bella Abzug of New York championed the designation of August 26 as Women's Equality Day, connecting the anniversary of women's suffrage with the broader continuing pursuit of equality. Congressional records from the era show Abzug arguing that the date represented both past and present struggles for women's rights.
Presidents have since issued proclamations recognizing the observance and the achievements of American women.
So the day asks us to do two things at once:
Look backward with gratitude.
And look forward with attention.
👠 Women Have Been Told “No” an Awful Lot
No voting.
No certain schools.
No certain professions.
No running the marathon.
No serving on certain juries.
No managing certain finances independently.
No entering certain workplaces.
No wearing that.
No doing that.
No going there.
No, no, no.
Women developed an interesting response:
Watch me.
Women became doctors.
Judges.
Astronauts.
Scientists.
CEOs.
Soldiers.
Engineers.
Governors.
Pilots.
Athletes.
Authors.
Inventors.
Farmers.
Professors.
Entrepreneurs.
And approximately six million other things while someone somewhere continued wondering whether they could “handle it.”
They handled it.
💪 A Few Things Worth Remembering Today
🗳️ The 19th Amendment was ratified in August 1920 and formally certified on August 26.
📜 The amendment prohibited denying voting rights on the basis of sex.
⏳ The organized American suffrage struggle stretched across generations; the National Archives traces 72 years from Seneca Falls in 1848 to certification in 1920.
✊ Suffragists used petitions, lobbying, speeches, marches, vigils and civil disobedience to press their case.
🗳️ The amendment did not immediately eliminate racial barriers that continued preventing many women from voting.
♀️ Women's Equality Day later became a way to commemorate suffrage while recognizing the continuing pursuit of equality.
💬 And if someone tells you one person can't change history, please remember that at one point a mother's letter to her son helped influence an extremely consequential vote.
Never underestimate mothers.
🌟 Celebrate the Women Who Made Your Life Better
Today doesn't require a parade.
Although we're certainly not opposed.
Learn about a woman from history you've never studied.
Read about women from your own town.
Interview your grandmother.
Ask your mother about the opportunities available to her when she was young.
Tell your daughters about the women who came before them.
Support a woman-owned local business.
Read a book written by a woman.
Watch a documentary about the suffrage movement.
Visit a women's-history museum or historic site.
Research women who worked in science, aviation, medicine, sports, politics, technology, or the arts.
Write a thank-you note to a woman who changed your life.
Register to vote if you're eligible and haven't done so.
Check your voter registration.
And vote when election day comes.
People worked far too hard for that right to become an errand we keep meaning to get around to.
📸 The Women Who Made Me Board
Here's one worth doing with the whole family.
Put up photographs, or simply write names, of women who influenced your life.
Grandmothers.
Mothers.
Aunts.
Teachers.
Coaches.
Friends.
Bosses.
Authors.
Historical figures.
Neighbors.
Then underneath each name, write:
What did she teach me?
Maybe:
Speak up.
Work hard.
Save your money.
Don't tolerate nonsense.
Learn to cook.
Get an education.
Leave when you need to leave.
Stay when something is worth fighting for.
Wear the red lipstick.
Apply for the job.
Call your mother.
Some history happens in Congress.
Some happens at the kitchen table.
Both count.
🍽️ Dinner: Pull Up a Chair
Tonight's dinner isn't pink.
There are no high-heel-shaped cookies.
We're celebrating women's equality, not throwing a bachelorette party.
Instead, tonight's meal is built around the idea of a table where everyone gets a seat.
🍗 Lemon-Herb Sheet Pan Chicken
Ingredients
6 chicken thighs
1 pound baby potatoes
3 carrots, chopped
1 red onion, cut into wedges
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of one lemon
3 cloves garlic
Rosemary
Salt and pepper
Directions
Heat the oven to 425°F.
Arrange chicken and vegetables on a large sheet pan.
Mix olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
Pour over everything.
Roast for 35–45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and vegetables are golden.
One pan.
Everybody eats.
Nobody spends the entire evening washing dishes.
Progress.
🥗 Everybody-at-the-Table Salad
Combine greens, apples, dried cranberries, walnuts, goat cheese, and red onion.
Dress with balsamic vinaigrette.
Sweet.
Sharp.
Strong.
A little complicated.
Good things often are.
🥖 Herbed Pull-Apart Bread
Use refrigerated biscuit dough.
Cut each biscuit into pieces.
Toss with melted butter, garlic, parsley, and Parmesan.
Pile into a baking dish and bake according to package directions until golden.
Everyone pulls off a piece.
Sharing power and carbohydrates.
🍓 Equal Measure Fizz – Mocktail
Ingredients
2 ounces cranberry juice
2 ounces lemonade
2 ounces sparkling water
Fresh berries
Ice
Equal parts.
Obviously.
Pour over ice and garnish with berries.
🍸 The 1920 – Cocktail
Ingredients
1½ ounces gin
¾ ounce lemon juice
½ ounce honey syrup
Sparkling wine
Lemon twist
Shake gin, lemon juice, and honey syrup with ice.
Strain into a coupe and top with sparkling wine.
Raise a glass to 1920.
And to everyone who kept pushing afterward.
🍰 Votes for Women Berry Shortcake
Ingredients
6 shortcake biscuits
2 cups strawberries, sliced
1 cup blueberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Whipped cream
Directions
Toss berries with sugar and lemon.
Let sit for about 20 minutes.
Split the shortcakes.
Spoon berries over the bottom halves.
Add generous whipped cream.
Replace the tops and add more berries.
Serve while discussing which historical woman you'd invite to dinner.
Imagine the guest list.
🍎 Put the Textbook Away for a Minute
Elementary
Create a “She Did What?” Gallery.
Give students a variety of women from history to research.
Scientists.
Artists.
Athletes.
Explorers.
Inventors.
Activists.
Writers.
Leaders.
Each student creates a one-page display answering:
Who was she?
What did she accomplish?
What obstacle did she face?
Why should we remember her?
Then line the classroom with them.
History becomes considerably more interesting when it becomes people instead of dates.
Secondary
Give students primary sources from the suffrage movement.
Speeches.
Newspaper articles.
Political cartoons.
Anti-suffrage arguments.
Petitions.
Photographs.
Ask students to examine not merely what happened, but how movements create political change.
Then complicate the story.
Who was included?
Who was excluded?
What changed in 1920?
What didn't?
That's not ruining the celebration.
That's understanding it.
💼 Around the Office
Skip the generic inspirational quotes.
Try a “Who Opened the Door?” board.
Ask employees to anonymously name a woman who helped them professionally.
A teacher who encouraged them.
A boss who promoted them.
A colleague who taught them.
A mentor who recommended them.
A customer who took a chance on them.
Then write what that woman actually did.
Not:
“She inspired me.”
But:
“She told me to apply for the job when I thought I wasn't qualified.”
“She taught me how to negotiate.”
“She recommended me for my first leadership role.”
Specific actions remind us that equality isn't merely an idea.
People help create it.
🎬 Movie Pick - Hidden Figures (2016)
Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson were brilliant women working at NASA during the space race while navigating barriers created by both sexism and racial segregation.
The film is funny, moving, infuriating, and enormously satisfying.
It also delivers one of today's most important reminders:
Sometimes the person who wasn't given a seat at the table is the person who knows how to get you to space.
📺 TV Pick - Mrs. America
The miniseries dramatizes the political battle over the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970s and explores the women on multiple sides of that fight.
It's especially fitting today because it demonstrates something history textbooks sometimes flatten:
Political movements contain disagreement.
Strategy.
Personality.
Compromise.
Conflict.
And people whose visions of equality, and of women's roles, can be profoundly different.
💬 Someone Had to Go First
Think about the first woman in any room.
The first woman in the classroom.
The first woman in the boardroom.
The first woman flying the aircraft.
The first woman wearing the uniform.
The first woman behind the bench.
The first woman on the ballot.
The first woman holding the title.
Being first sounds glamorous afterward.
It probably didn't always feel glamorous while it was happening.
Being first means everyone is watching.
Every mistake becomes evidence.
Every success gets qualified.
Every ordinary human flaw carries the burden of supposedly representing half the population.
And yet women kept walking through doors that hadn't originally been built for them.
Then they held those doors open.
That's worth remembering today.
Equality doesn't mean women never struggle.
It doesn't mean women always agree.
It doesn't mean every outcome is identical.
It means talent shouldn't be dismissed because it arrived in the “wrong” body.
Ambition shouldn't require permission.
Opportunity shouldn't come with a gender requirement.
And a voice shouldn't matter less because of who is speaking.
On August 26, we remember women who demanded the ballot.
But perhaps the best way to honor them is simpler.
Use your voice.
Know your history.
Pay attention.
Open doors.
And when someone tells you to wait quietly for your turn?
Remember the women who didn't.
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