Englewood — In a historic election year it may be hard to recall that less than 100 years ago, women in the United States were not allowed to vote.
It is for this reason that Women’s Rights Information Center in Englewood is celebrating Women’s Equality Day, the anniversary of Constitutional Amendment XIX, which gave women the right to vote.
"There is a lot of history, but many don’t know how hard it was or how long it took," the center’s President Phoebe Seham said of suffrage.
"We must never forget that what we have today was hard fought by women who sacrificed in many different ways," Joan Grzenda, the center’s executive director, said.
One such woman was Tenafly resident Elizabeth Cady Stanton who Grzenda refers to as "our godmother." Stanton fought for a variety of women’s issues, including the right to vote, in the 19th century.
Speakers for the evening include Seham, Leonia Mayor Mary Heveran, Patricia O’Brien Libutti and Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle.
Libutti, a retired Rutgers University librarian, will be showing New York Times articles from the 1920s and relate them to current issues facing women voters such as the current candidates and their stances on pay equality.
"I hope that people take away what their vote means and a pride for the people who fought for it," Libutti said.
The League of Women Voters will also have members there to help with the registration of new voters and will deliver registrations to the Bergen County Board of Elections in Hackensack.
"It’s startling the number of women who don’t vote," Grzenda said. "We are setting the stage for young girls and how important it is for them to be heard when they do become of voting age."
The center works year round to help women and their families become self-sufficient, according to Seham. Programs include computer training, counseling and career services.
To RSVP for women’s Equality Day call 201-568-1166.
E-mail: levinsohn@northjersey.com
