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Abstract

lose focus of what is at a stake if we continue in the same way we have been with the current administration.</p><p id="832e" type="7">We have to continue to educate ourselves, we have to continue to raise each other up; we have to continue this fight, for it is far from over. The right to equality for all.</p><p id="d09d">We can start this again by re-strengthening the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as it has been <a href="https://time.com/3985479/voting-rights-act-1965-results/">chipped away</a> significantly. This Act no longer resembles its original words and meaning since 2012.</p><p id="ef2b">In 2013, one of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s <a href="http://aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/in-memory-of-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-1933-2020/?initms_aff=nat&amp;initms_chan=eml&amp;utm_medium=eml&amp;initms=200918_rbg_obit_gradead_sail&amp;utm_source=sail&amp;utm_campaign=rbg&amp;utm_content=200918_civilliberties_obit_gradead&amp;ms_aff=nat&amp;ms_chan=eml&amp;ms=200918_rbg_obit_gradead_sail">last words</a> on the subject says it all:</p><blockquote id="2b39"><p>... “Race-based voting discrimination still exists,” she rebuked her colleagues, again reading her dissent. Dismantling the act, she said later, was “like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”</p></blockquote><p id="2706">We feel this, as we allowed someone like the current President into the highest office of the United States of America. He threatens the enforcement of the U.S. Constitution, by slowly stripping away at the <a href="https://upfront.scholastic.com/issues/2019-20/090219/what-you-need-to-know-about-checks-and-balances.html#1170L">checks-and-balances</a> we have in place. The most notable one, recently, is the replacement of the Postmaster-General, of the U.S. Post office, with one of Trump’s campaign contributors, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/21/904346060/postmaster-general-faces-intense-scrutiny-amid-allegations-of-political-motives">Louis DeJoy</a>.</p><p id="3790">The fear and question now, who is going to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat? Who will be our new legal champion for women’s rights and equality for all? Who will make sure new laws, in the legislature, assure equal rights under the U.S. Constitution?</p><p id="99c2">Who will re-strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to its original form? Also, will the <a href="https://www.equalrightsamendment.org/">Equal Rights Amendment</a> ever be added to the U.S. Constitution, as it originally attempted back in 1972 (<i>more on this later</i>)?</p><p id="3e66">How do we continue paving this road we left unfinished since the late 1800s, during the first wave of the women’s rights movement?</p><p id="d7d0">For how can we have equality if not everyone is equal?</p><p id="f4e0">— HKB</p><p id="1574"><b><i>One simple start? Join your local grassroots movements, do your research about your local elected and soon to be elected officials. Look at where we are, and where we want to be. The answers are within each of us, and no politician in current power can truly answer those fully and honestly for us.</i></b></p><p id="cbcf">Some links to help you start this journey and to further educate yourself about the ERA — Equal Rights Amendment:</p><div id="e551" class="link-block"> <a href="https://www.equalrightsamendment.org/"> <div> <div> <h2>Equal Rights Amendment</h2> <div><h3>The Equal Rights Amendment is a constitutional amendment that will guarantee legal gender equality for women and men…</h3></div> <div><p>www.equalrightsamendment.org</p></div> </div> <div>

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            <h2>Who We Are | National Organization for Women</h2>
            <div><h3>The National Organization for Women is the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States…</h3></div>
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    </div><p id="bf62">Inclusive list in this article:</p><div id="6806" class="link-block">
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            <h2>8 Women’s Rights Organizations Everyone Should Know About</h2>
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            <h2>#Disruptors: Challenging the status quo for women's rights</h2>
            <div><h3>From creating 'secret schools' for girls in Afghanistan to launching the first-ever women's fund in Mexico to get more…</h3></div>
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    </div><p id="19cd">On a broader scale — local chapters:</p><div id="b940" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/5/press-release-un-women-supports-womens-and-grassroots-organizations-for-covid-19-response">
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            <h2>UN Women delivers lifeline support to women's and grassroots organizations for COVID-19 response</h2>
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            <h2>MADRE - Global women's rights</h2>
            <div><h3>Our grassroots partners are women leaders who protect and provide for communities facing war and disaster. Together, we…</h3></div>
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What Do We Do Now That a Hero to The Feminist Movement Has Passed Away?

Who are the leaders of the movement, especially now?

Photo by Flavia Jacquier from Pexels

A hero to the feminist movement has passed away. There is no doubt Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an idol to most of us women and she will be sorely missed.

She was a hard-working lawyer, wife, and mother. She stood in solidarity with both men and women. In her formative years, spoke more about women's right to equality, in the workplace, in the home, and all laws surrounding both sexes, not pigeonholing either one, for true equality.

Her start as a formalized lawyer for the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and the founder of the Women’s Rights Project in 1972, made some significant strides in equality for both sexes in regards to the U.S. laws and the Constitution.

How are we to continue her legacy? Who are the women who fight for and represent women’s rights to equality in all facets of life?

Very few of the women that were part of the feminist second wave movement are still alive. Gloria Steinem is one, but she seems to be rather quiet nowadays in retirement. Young ones are also speaking, but the most prominent one (she seems to be the only one still speaking) is Malala Yousafzai.

However, what actions have women’s rights activist groups, and the National Women’s Political Caucus, have done for women? The last noted act was back in 1979 according to their own information page.

In fact, the most notable changes they list on their own website is this:

Significant increases in the numbers of women elected officials since the Caucus’ founding speak to our success. In 1971, women numbered just 363, or 4.7 percent, of state legislators; today, they are 2,154, or 29.2 percent. In 1971, there were only 7 women mayors of cities over 30,000 or 1 percent of the total; today, there are 300 women mayors or 22 percent. And while there were only 15 women members of Congress in 1971, there are now 127, or 23.7% percent (CAWP).

This means that only 23.7% of the people in power at the federal level, are women and represent their State’s constituents.

The most notable stance for women’s rights, these days, was the informal #MeToo movement — but this too, seems to have died down and most of the accused deny the allegations and typically have gotten away with a slap on the wrist.

Where have our voices gone?

We cannot let it die down, especially now, when our country is at a crossroads. Many have said both candidates for leadership of the United States are not without fault at mistreating women. Yet, we cannot lose focus of what is at a stake if we continue in the same way we have been with the current administration.

We have to continue to educate ourselves, we have to continue to raise each other up; we have to continue this fight, for it is far from over. The right to equality for all.

We can start this again by re-strengthening the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as it has been chipped away significantly. This Act no longer resembles its original words and meaning since 2012.

In 2013, one of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s last words on the subject says it all:

... “Race-based voting discrimination still exists,” she rebuked her colleagues, again reading her dissent. Dismantling the act, she said later, was “like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

We feel this, as we allowed someone like the current President into the highest office of the United States of America. He threatens the enforcement of the U.S. Constitution, by slowly stripping away at the checks-and-balances we have in place. The most notable one, recently, is the replacement of the Postmaster-General, of the U.S. Post office, with one of Trump’s campaign contributors, Louis DeJoy.

The fear and question now, who is going to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat? Who will be our new legal champion for women’s rights and equality for all? Who will make sure new laws, in the legislature, assure equal rights under the U.S. Constitution?

Who will re-strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to its original form? Also, will the Equal Rights Amendment ever be added to the U.S. Constitution, as it originally attempted back in 1972 (more on this later)?

How do we continue paving this road we left unfinished since the late 1800s, during the first wave of the women’s rights movement?

For how can we have equality if not everyone is equal?

— HKB

One simple start? Join your local grassroots movements, do your research about your local elected and soon to be elected officials. Look at where we are, and where we want to be. The answers are within each of us, and no politician in current power can truly answer those fully and honestly for us.

Some links to help you start this journey and to further educate yourself about the ERA — Equal Rights Amendment:

Inclusive list in this article:

On a broader scale — local chapters:

Equality
Women
Equal Rights
Feminism
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