As we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, August 26, it seems like a good time to take stock. Predictably, we find a mixed record of modest advances towards equality and the stubbornly persistent inequalities. Here’s a quick rundown, starting with the important advances.
The role of women in the military has long been a contentious issue, one plagued by sexist notions that devalue women’s physical abilities and emotional maturity. Many feminists will recall that Phyllis Schlafly, architect of the Stop ERA movement, asserted that the Equal Rights Amendment would subject women to the draft and for that reason and a few others like unisex bathrooms, the amendment should be opposed. Well, here we are in 2016 closer to what feminists urged: equal treatment for women and men when it comes to military service.
NOW members, friends, celebrities and special guests gathered at the conference hotel for our grand 50th anniversary celebration, June 24 – 26. And what a celebration it was!
The 2016 Democratic Platform, cited as the most progressive in the party’s history, was released in draft form on July 1 and will be voted on at the Democratic National Convention, July 25 – 28, in Philadelphia. The platform signals a moment of optimism and hope for the future in an election season marked by pervasive and blatant attacks against women, people of color, immigrants, Muslims and a slew of other groups targeted by the Republican Party. The Democratic Platform contains provisions that — if achieved — would result in large and long-awaited victories for feminists.
By anonymous As a young queer person, two specific days stand out to me. Two major events in the last year have profoundly changed my life and how I live it. June 25, 2015 marked the day I was legally allowed to marry another person of the same gender via the Supreme Court ruling in Read more …
Tell the Senate to vote No on the SAVE America Act.