Women's Equality Day

Women in the United States were given the right to vote on August 26, 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed. August 26th is designated as Women's Equality Day, set aside to commemorate that occasion.

Let's celebrate Women's Equality Day with some fascinating facts!

• Wyoming was the first state to give women the right to vote AND the first state to elect a female governor.
• Here are some things invented by women: the circular saw, the dishwasher, Kevlar, the windshield wiper, the engine muffler, the electric hot water heater, wireless transmission technology, and the chocolate chip cookie.
• The two highest IQ's ever recorded belonged to women.
• 855 enlisted African-American women and officers made up the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion during WWII. The women were charged with delivering mail to approximately seven million American troops stationed in Europe.
• In a touch of irony, high heel shoes were first worn by men in the 1600s. Women wore them to appear more masculine.
• Julia DeForest Tuttle, known as the “mother of Miami,” has the distinction of being the only woman to have founded a major American city.
• When Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady, she would only allow female reporters at her press conferences. Her decision meant newspapers would have to hire women journalists if they wanted the story.

If you're interested in learning more about the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, watch Hilary Swank as suffragist leader Alice Paul in Iron-Jawed Angels (2004).