by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College is holding its third annual Women’s Equality Day luncheon and program, “Women’s Equality: Where Are We Now?”
The event is noon to 1:30 p.m. Aug. 25 in the Jewell Student Center Upper Lounge at the college, 7250 State Ave. It is free and open to the public.
Women’s Equality Day commemorates the granting of women the right to vote in the United States. First proposed in 1878, women known as suffragettes worked for more than 40 years to gain equal voting rights. Some would try to pass suffrage acts in individual states. Others organized parades, vigils or even hunger strikes.
After President Woodrow Wilson changed his position and started supporting a woman’s right to vote, other politicians soon followed his lead. On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was certified as law, and since 1972, every president has issued a proclamation for Women’s Equality Day.
“It’s important that we recognize the hard work it took to win the right to vote and continue to work diligently on the issues and inequities that women still face today,” said Jennifer Gieschen, coordinator of Women and Gender Advocacy at KCKCC.
This year’s event features and honors Judy Ancel, a long-time activist, organizer and advocate for equality, especially in labor and pay. Ancel is the former director of Worker Education and Labor Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is also the founder of Kansas City Jobs with Justice and currently coordinates the Heartland Labor Forum, an award-winning weekly one-hour radio show about the workplace and economic issues on community radio in Kansas City, KKFI-90.1FM.
KCKCC’s Women’s Equality Day event is co-hosted by Women and Gender Advocacy Services of the Counseling and Advocacy Center, the American Association of University Women and the Intercultural Center.
For more information or to RSVP, contact Gieschen at [email protected] or call 913-288-7193.