August 18th marked the 99th year since the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote nationally. In honor of this hard-fought victory, Women’s Equality Day is celebrated every year on August 26th. The day not only honors those who fought for equality in the early 1900’s but also celebrates the continued progress of all women’s movements since that time.1
According to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and Sustainable Development Goal #5, Gender Equality, providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large. Gender equality matters because women and girls represent half of the world’s population and therefore also half of its potential.2
Today, women are making important contributions to the quality of American life in almost every area of society. It is important that on these remembrance days – like the one this past Monday – we not only celebrate historic victories in gender equality, but also empower current movements that continue to fight for equality. Ideally, the day would help empower each person to join the UNPRI’s goal of creating a world where everyone in the world’s population matters – and are adequately educated, paid and treated equally – regardless of gender.
1 https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/women-equality-day
2 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Goal-5.pdf