Opinion | Why I won’t be celebrating Women’s Equality Day

Louisa Marshall
Editor-in-Chief

Aug. 26 marks Women’s Equality Day. Aug. 26 is a day that I wish didn’t exist. 

My friends know that I am a raging feminist. For those who don’t know me, the bag I carry everyday with the word “feminist” written across it in bold letters should be a dead giveaway. I’ve been told I embody everything about feminism: the short hair, the tattoos, the pessimistic attitude about men and dating, the unapologetic political opinions. 

I’ve also been told that these things I embody work against me – that I’ll never have a boyfriend because I want equal pay, that I’ll always be laughed out of a room that I try to command, that I should definitely grow my hair. 

As a kid, I was told that I could accomplish just about anything and I wholeheartedly believed that. I excelled in school and extracurriculars, I was well-liked and I never worried about having to face the ice cold realities of gender inequality. For so long, I didn’t think it existed. 

I will never forget the first day that I was sexually harassed in public and was aware of it. Even now, I could tell you exactly where I was, what I was wearing and what the father of two said to me as he walked past. I was 12. 

I will never forget the feeling of being able to vote for a female presidential candidate in the first election I could take part in. My heart raced when I made that small black check beside her name. For the rest of my life, I will feel the ache in my heart that I experienced when I watched her accept the results of the election. I will never forget the suit she wore: purple, a royal color. 

Aug. 26 is a day I despise because it solely reminds me that women are not equal to men in the United States. Yes, there is legislation like Title IX that protects women in the workplace and allows for an “equal-like” environment to be created. But women are not equal citizens under the Constitution and that has been an uphill battle since 1920. 

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was written by suffragette pioneers Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman and presented to Congress for the first time in 1923. Drafted soon after the 19th amendment was passed granting women the right to vote, the ERA sought to end all legal discrepancies between men and women. To most level-headed individuals today, this might not seem like a novel concept. But women in the first half of the 20th century occupied the home, not the workplace. They were to be seen, not heard. To circa 1920s Congress, the notion of equality was unbelievable and unattainable. 

The ERA was introduced and overlooked time and time again, until it started picking up steam in the 1960s. By March 22, 1979, it was passed by the House of Representatives and was sent to the states for ratification. Thirty-eight states needed to ratify the amendment for the ERA to become law. Only 35 states voted for equality. Just like that, women were back to square one. 

The ERA has been a consistent push and pull, a never ending fight and an acronym that almost every woman knows. I give you all this historic info to show just how many times the notion of equality of the sexes has been shot down. 

So yes, I, a raging feminist and gender historian, don’t like Women’s Equality Day. Women should have been legally equal to their male counterparts since the beginning of time and it boggles my mind that there are still people holding onto the notion that women, minority groups, members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of non-Western religions are somehow inherently less than. 

This Women’s Equality Day, call your senators and your representatives in Congress. Talk to them about the importance of the ERA and what it would mean for women everywhere. Because the pay still isn’t equal, the glass ceiling is very much still intact and myself, along with countless women everyday, can’t walk down the street in a tank top without getting cat called. 

Ok I’m done.