Women's Equality Day is kind of a baby holiday. O.k., fine, a teenager. It's only been around since the '70s and many of us are totally clueless about what it's all about. Join us as we give you the low-down on Women's Equality Day and offer great ways for you and your family to celebrate women!
What's Women's Equality Day?
Women’s Equality Day was created back in 1973 to celebrate the passage of the 19th Amendment, which established the right of all American Women to Vote.* And, yes, there is a School House Rock Song for that!
But was all really ALL? Time to insert that second astrix:
*O.k., so, in reality, "all" here truly only represented white women. Black and brown women were largely barred from voting until 1965 and the passing of the Voting Rights Act (History buffs, check out the footnotes at the bottom of this post for references and further reading on this struggle).
That's partly why Women's Equality Day is such an important moment to celebrate the steps toward equality we've made and a reminder of how far we still have to go.
At BBE, we are passionate about many social causes, including advancing equality for women and girls. Because honestly, women's equality is so much bigger than just the right to cast that vote. So for Women's Equality Day, we've brought together some of our favorite organizations that support women. Join us in celebrating the innovation, intellect, and empowerment of women!
Women's Suffrage Movement: A Crash Course
But maybe you're too tired, busy, stressed, etc. to read all of that 👆? No worries. Here's a quick, fun summary of the Women's Suffrage (*cough* Suffrage means "women can vote" *cough*) Movement.
✨3 Ways to Celebrate Women's Equality
There are so many great ways to celebrate Women's Equality Day but here are some of our favorite picks.
Register to Vote! 
O.k., maybe it seems obvious but the best way you can pay homage to those spunky ladies of yesteryear who won the right to vote for women is to ACTUALLY VOTE.
Elections in the United States have abysmal participation historically because most of us just don't show up and vote. And sure, politics is divisive and there's a lot of people throwing around a lot of different ideas (and vegetables). But we're not here to tell you how to vote; we're just pointing out how to register. Then you'll be ready come Nov. 3, 2020.
Just sign up here at Vote.gov (it's a USA government site, fyi).
Join Nasa in Celebrating "Past, Present and Future of Women in Space" 🌎✨
Join Nasa at 3 pm ET for a #WomensEqualityDay program to celebrate the "Past, Present and Future of Women in Space," reflecting on the stories and profound contributions of @WomenNASA. How to watch:
Help Close the Gender Gap and Empower Women 👩🏽🔬
It's at this time that we like to take a moment and highlight wisdom from our favorite ice cream gurus:
Yup, the gender gap is REAL and it's a lot less fun than some creamy cool treats from the frozen food section. But it doesn't have to stay that way! Here are a few ways to help close the gender gap:
- Support organizations like Fairygodboss that are striving to pull back the veil behind company wages
- Promote salary transparency in your own company and in your city / state.
- And Babe, check out these sites BEFORE you go to that interview and accept that salary 💁🏼♀️:
💪🏾 3 Awesome Groups That Promote Women
Girls Who Code
As computers advance quicker than we can say "bath bombs," it's becoming ever more vital to train the next generation. It should be noted that fewer than 1 in 5 computer science graduates today are female. Girls Who Code was created to combat this statistic. It is their goal to create the "largest pipeline of future female engineers in the United States."
Accordingly, the organization offers confidence building, technical courses and feature an active community of women from all over. Donating to their organization helps fund their school clubs, summer immersion programs, free lesson plans on women in tech and other forms of content to encourage the next-gen of coders.
Website | Instagram | Facebook
CARE Organization
CARE is a wonderful organization to follow this Women's Equality Day! It uniquely focuses on the 1.4 billion people living in poverty. In particular, women and children make up the majority of that statistic. They work in over 90 countries and reach over 50 million people with development and humanitarian aid programs.
They attack poverty at the root by ensuring girls have a right to an education. But, not only formal education. They provide education on health and even how to fight for their right to be free of abuse and violence.
And don't forget that your donations help fund programs that keep girls in school, help women get and keep jobs, and provide vital health information.
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Girl Up Campaign
Girl Up is one of our favorite women empowerment programs! Headed by the United Nations Foundation, the Girl Up Campaign specializes in helping young female leaders fine-tune their skills. They learn to develop leadership techniques, self-confidence, personal accountability, and holding long-term aspirations.
Better still, donations made to this organization help fund programming on gender equality, gender violence, education, STEM for social good. And don't forget about their support of sports! In all areas, they emphasize how girls can succeed!
Look 'em up: Website | Instagram | Facebook
Cheers to you, Babe!
Jenny
Foot Notes + Further Reading
- The 19th Amendment — Women Can Vote!
- 1965 Voting Rights Act — No, Really. ALL Women Can Vote!
- Beckman, Ludvig (2008). "Who Should Vote? Conceptualizing Universal Suffrage in Studies of Democracy". Democratization. 15.1: 29–48.
- Paxton, Pamela; et al. (2003). "A half-century of suffrage: New data and a comparative analysis". Studies in Comparative International Development. 38.1: 93–122.
- Robinson, George M. Fredrickson Edgar E. (1995). Black Liberation: A Comparative History of Black Ideologies in the United States and South Africa. Oxford University Press.
- Sneider, Allison (2010). "The New Suffrage History: Voting Rights in International Perspective". History Compass. 8.7: 692–703.
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