Today in Feminist History: The E.R.A. Is Unstoppable! (July 26, 1940)

With the endorsement of the party whose legislators provided the votes needed to successfully put the 13th, 14th, 15th and 19th Amendments into the Constitution now assured, the battle will soon move to the Democratic Convention next month. Then it’s back to Congress to get the approval of 2/3 of the House and Senate, followed by a nationwide campaign to get 36 of the 48 State legislatures to ratify.

Today in Feminist History: Suffragists Flock to National Women’s Rights Convention (September 8, 1852)

The convention will continue two more days, and the struggle will go on for as long as may be necessary. But if future advocates of equality for women have the same dedication as those present today, there is no doubt that Elizabeth Oakes Smith’s prediction of victory will prove true, and those who can say they were among the first to begin the work of winning total equality for women will be especially honored.

Today in Feminist History: Congressional Subcommittee Approves Equal Rights Amendment (May 30, 1936)

The amendment’s House sponsor, Rep. Louis Ludlow, Democrat of Indiana, called today’s favorable recommendation “an epochal event in the advancement of the cause of women in America,” and also said that “it gives valuable moral support and impetus to a cause that is daily gaining ground among right-thinking people. The Equal Rights Amendment is a necessary corollary and supplement of equal suffrage and its adoption will be the crowning act that will bring women to a status of the complete emancipation to which they are entitled by all the rules of right and justice.”

Today in Feminist History: N.A.W.S.A. Looks to Future of Women’s Suffrage (March 24, 1919)

Though nothing is ever certain in politics, there do appear to be enough votes in the new Congress to pass the Susan B. Anthony Amendment by the two-thirds majority required and send it to the states for ratification by 36 of 48. Regardless of whether that final step in the ratification process takes place before next year’s Presidential election or not, the end of the struggle is in sight, so it’s definitely appropriate to begin thinking about how women’s votes can best be used after the battle to win them is over.