08/27/2026
Today is Women’s Equality Day, commemorating the certification of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920, which prohibited denying the right to vote on the basis of s*x.
The amendment was a landmark achievement in the long struggle for women’s political equality, but it did not guarantee equal access to the ballot for all women. Mexican American women and other women of color continued to confront poll taxes, discriminatory registration practices, language barriers, intimidation, and other obstacles to exercising their right to vote.
Mexican American women nevertheless organized, educated voters, challenged discrimination, and built institutions to strengthen their communities and expand political participation. Women including MarĂa Rebecca Latigo de Hernández, Jovita Idar, and Emma Tenayuca remind us that the struggle for women’s equality has always been intertwined with broader movements for civil, labor, educational, and voting rights.
Led by Congresswoman Bella Abzug, Congress established Women’s Equality Day in 1971 not only to commemorate women’s suffrage, but also to recognize women’s continuing efforts toward full equality.
Today, we honor those who fought to expand our democracy, and recognize that equality is not simply a milestone of the past, but work that continues in every generation.