Card 24: Women’s Rights

WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

Long before European settlers arrived, women played a crucial role in building this country. In many Native American cultures, women have held high positions of authority, from before the Revolutionary War through two world wars and into the 21st century. Yet women have always struggled for recognition and equality. 

• In the 1800s, Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for women’s right to vote.
• Frances Ellen Watkins Harper urged the white women’s rights convention to include Black women in the suffrage movement.
• Mary Church Terrell, an educator and civil rights activist, was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women.
• Susan B. Anthony fought for equal pay for equal work and labor rights.
• Ida B. Wells advocated for the right to vote for Black women.
• Frances Perkins was the driving force behind the establishment of modern labor laws, the introduction of the minimum wage, and the creation of Social Security.
• All were essential to advancing women’s rights. Despite their progress, today we face a continued attack on those rights.
• Women still lack guaranteed legal equality. The Equal Rights Amendment, introduced first in 1923 and again in 1971, was ratified by the requisite 38 states in 2020. However, since the ratification deadline had passed, it has not been fully approved or added to the Constitution.
• Despite gains from the Civil Rights Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Act, and Equal Pay Act, women working in certain fields still encounter obstacles.
• Women are paid less, earning on average $.81 for every dollar a man makes in a similar position, and the gap is widening. They also face lower loan approval rates, receive smaller loan amounts, and are charged higher interest rates than men.
• The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and restrictive laws in many states prevent approximately two-thirds of women in the US from making informed choices about their family or personal healthcare.
• The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act pending in Congress will make it more difficult to register or re-register to vote and will disproportionately suppress the vote of women. 

What can you do?

Call your representatives and senators at

• Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect the vote of every citizen in this country.
• Defeat the SAVE Act, ensuring women continue to have an equal say in our government.
• Recognize the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and add it to our Constitution.

Pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to restore the rights of women to make healthcare decisions for themselves and in the best interests of their families.