Catch Up with the #HERvotes Blog Carnival!

Today we celebrate Women’s Equality Day and the second day of the HERvotes blog carnival. In collaboration with many national women’s organizations, including Ms. publisher the Feminist Majority Foundation, we’re thrilled to be one of the hosts of HERvotes. The carnival’s goal is to call attention to the top ten historic gains for women currently under attack, in order to mobilize the power of American women voters in 2012. As Ms. Executive Editor Kathy Spillar wrote in our kick-off post, even as we commemorate historic victories for women’s voting rights, the struggle for equality is far from over:

August 26th marks the 91st anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S. Yes, many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers lived in a time when they weren’t allowed to vote. And for African Americans, the right to vote didn’t truly come into full effect until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

But now, armed with that right, it’s more important than ever for us to use it.

That’s why a new national coalition of women’s organizations, representing millions of women, has launched HERvotes: to remind women just what’s at stake in the coming year’s elections. If you’ve been reading Ms. magazine and the Ms. Blog, you’re certainly aware of Congressional attacks on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. And on a state level, reproductive rights are under siege, while jobs in which women predominate–and services which benefit women and their families–are being cut to the bone.

With so much at stake for women, the right to vote is more than something to celebrate, it’s something to exercise. In that spirit, check out all of the great posts from contributors nationwide on the issues that matter most to women. Share them with your networks to remind the women you care about to vote as if their lives depend on it. And follow the #HERvotes hashtag on Twitter to see what others are saying and join the conversation!

 

 

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