Edwards Statement On Women's Equality Day

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Edwards Statement On Women's Equality Day

Eighty-three years ago, women were granted the right to vote and our nation has been getting stronger ever since. Women's Equality Day gives us a moment to reflect on those individuals who recognized a great injustice and spent their lives trying to right an incredible wrong. We remember the first major Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848. We remember how they continued to march forward from state to state decade after decade until the 19th Amendment was signed, and we know that their campaign for equality continues today.

We know that under this president important rights of women are in jeopardy. He wants to turn the clock back and take away a woman's right to choose. He wants to gut Title IX - a program that has opened doors to millions of young girls and women. And he refuses to advocate an equal day's pays for an equal day's work when some women continue to earn 76 cents on the dollar for doing the same type of work as men.

The lesson we carry with us today is that with perseverance, leadership, and equality on your side, we can protect the gains that have been made since 1920, by transforming America once again in November 2004.