Every year, the Women's Equality Day is celebrated in the United States of America (USA) on August 26. The day is marked to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution. The amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. Women's Equality Day was first celebrated in 1972, designated by Congress in 1973, and is proclaimed each year by the United States President.

It was on August 26, 1970, that the National Organisation for Women (NOW) organized nationwide ‘strike for equality’. This was done to mark the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment. All women were asked to stop working for a day to bring into light the inequalities when it comes to employment and education.

As per history, the date was chosen to commemorate the day in 1920 when Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed the proclamation granting American women the constitutional right to vote.  In 1971, following the 1970 nationwide Women's Strike for Equality and again in 1973, as the battles over the Equal Rights Amendment continued, Congresswoman Bella Abzug of New York introduced a resolution to designate August 26 as Women’s Equality Day.

Women’s Equality Day 2020: History

President Richard Nixon in 1972 had issued Proclamation 4147, which designated August 26, 1972 as ‘Women's Rights Day’. It was the first official proclamation of Women's Equality Day.

On August 16, 1973, Congress approved HJ Res. 52, which stated that August 26 would be designated as Women's Equality Day and that ‘the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation in commemoration of that day in 1920 on which the women in America were first guaranteed the right to vote’. The same day, Nixon had issued Proclamation 4236 for Women's Equality Day, which began, in part: "The struggle for women's suffrage, however, was only the first step toward full and equal participation of women in our Nation's life.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 26, 2020 08:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).