Happy Women's Equality Day
 Tuesday, August 26th, 2008  by Connie T.

Happy Women's Equality Day!! The United States Congress officially designated August 26th as Women's Equality Day in 1971, to celebrate the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote.

Although we have come a long way, ladies, we still have a ways to go. Last year women were paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man was paid, costing the average full-time female worker in the U.S. between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her working life.

African-American women are paid 72 cents on the dollar, and Latina women 60 cents.

Earlier this year, legislation came before the Senate that would have made it easier for women to pursue pay discrimination if they were not given equal salaries to male employees in equivalent positions. Senator Barack Obama supported the bill. Senator John McCain opposed it.

There are other issues that yank our chain. The Bush administration proposed new regulation that would discourage doctors and health-care clinics from providing birth control to women who need it. Besides for contraceptive reasons, the birth control pill is also prescribed for medical purposes, such as extreme menstrual pain.

Yet for men, Viagra continues to be prescribed and covered by health care nationwide.

(You may remember this as the question Sen. McCain couldn't answer.)


1. Celebrate women's equality by exercising your right to vote. Know what's important to you and where the candidates stand on the issues before hitting the voting booth.

2. Join almost 15,000 people who have signed this petition in protest of pending legislation to limit the availability of birth control for women.

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