Women’s Equality Day is celebrated annually to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment, which prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. Nationally, Women’s Equality Day is August 26th. BPW holds an event each year on a Saturday afternoon near this date to take time out to gather for a celebration but also to take a look at the current state of equality for women and what we can do to move forward.
Although the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote, we’d be remiss not to acknowledge that discriminatory laws in many states kept black women, indigineous women and many other women of color from voting until the passage of the voting rights act in 1965.
Women’s Equality Day was first celebrated in 1971, designated by Congress in 1973, and is proclaimed each year by the United States President. 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.
This year has been a bit maddening so the theme of a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party seemed appropriate. Guests are not only welcomed but encouraged as is wearing your most extraordinary hat. Hawthorne Bottle Shoppe is located at 2927 Central Avenue.
