WOMEN rights

WHY ALL WOMEN SHOULD BE CELEBRATING THIS EXTRAORDINARY MOMENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY TODAY

168 years ago in 1848, a brave group of women gathered together in Seneca Falls, New York to form the first movement of women fighting for equal rights. For thousands of years before, women had been treated as second class citizens,  denied the freedoms that men had, unable to have a voice in how they were governed, to own property, and to live dignified, empowered lives. 

Now, the women in America rose up to demand their rights.

 They took to the streets and marched. They refused to have their voices silenced. 

Their daughters and granddaughters continued the battle into the 20th century.They were humiliated, bullied, insulted, beaten and jailed--just for insisting that they be treated equally, just for asking that they be afforded the same rights as men.

Finally, in 1917, the first women were given the right to vote, and began the long, slow, and difficult journey towards equality, still opposed-even today- by so many men who could not conceive of or stomach a female in power, or making as much money as they did, or achieving what they had, or greater.

Tonight, the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice of those unnamed women who first marched for our freedom comes to new fruition, almost a century after we were given the right to vote,  as the first woman in history, Hillary Clinton, is nominated to be a party's nominee for President of the United States. 

Whatever your politics, I hope you are proud of our country, of women and men everywhere who have fought for equality, and how far we have come in the past few hundreds years. 

Now your daughters and granddaughters can dream another dream--that they, too, could grow up to be President. Now girls all over the world who are still enslaved with no rights can look to America and see a female face of love, compassion and leadership. 

I pray for the sake of our future and the dignity of our democracy that Hillary Clinton becomes our next president, and the first female president. However, even if that was not my choice, my eyes would still be overflowing with the same tears. 

I have fought my whole life for my own equality and the rights of women, and I thank God that I am alive to see this historic moment in the history of the human race and of this great country.

Thank you for listening, and for passing this on to as many people as you can.