It’s hard to believe that 100 years ago at this time, no woman had ever cast a ballot — not just for President of the United States, but for any candidate, ever, running in this country.
But because of the work of so many visionary women, the right for women to vote is now a 100-year-old reality.
And while that is a wonderful notion — it begs the question — was it enough? Has our nation really grown since women were granted the right to vote?
Let’s look at the facts.
In the 100 years since the 19th Amendment was ratified, the simple reality is this — in that very same timeframe, three women have served as the vice-presidential nominee: Geraldine A. Ferraro in 1984, Sarah L. Palin in 2008 and Kamala D. Harris now.
In that same timeframe, a grand total of one woman has served as a party presidential nominee — that was just four years ago.
That is a grand total of four women who have been eligible for the two highest offices in the land. A sum of “0” have ever won. And in the cases of Ferraro and Palin, it was nowhere near close to becoming a reality.
So what does all of this mean?
While there has been great progress that may be attributed to the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, this country has not made the strides it should have by now. Women have made great progress in other nations to become presidents, prime ministers, etc. But not here.
We can only hope things begin to change, in that regard, soon. The women of this nation deserve so much better.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.