100 years ago, the 19th amendment, allowing women the right to vote, was passed. But although the amendment was written to give women of all races the right to vote, in practice, it was mostly white women who secured the right; Black women would have to wait nearly 5 decades more to actually exercise that right. You’ve probably heard about many of the women involved in this fight, but it wasn’t won in one fell swoop. Instead, it was a battle that was fought state by...

According to the Body Image Therapy Center, 70 percent of 18 to 30-year-olds don’t like their body. Eighty-nine percent of girls have dieted by age 17. And 42 percent of girls in first through third grade want to lose weight. Our society has an obsession with being thin, and no one can really pinpoint how or when it began. Some think it began in the 1840s with a minister who preached women’s overindulgences in food signaled poor morality. Others think it began much later with a...

A bike messenger for the National Woman’s Party, which was staffed entirely by women For half a century, women had been politely agitating for suffrage. Then some fearless young radicals came along who weren’t afraid to make some noise—even if it meant serving prison time. Seven years later, they had won the right to vote It was more than a parade; it was a pageant. On March 13, 1913, thousands of women descended on Washington, D.C. to demand the right to vote. Led by a strikingly beautiful...

"Just like the men!" Cartoon. New-York Tribune, March 1, 1913 When African-American women demanded the right to vote, they faced resistance from racists, from sexists, and even from other suffragistsBy Sabrina Ford America’s recent presidential election was a painful one for many of us. But amid all the traumatic sound bites, one of the few highlights was watching women in their late 90s and older—born before the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote—gleefully casting their votes for a female president for the first time.Of course,...

Cats have stereotypically been associated with women, particularly spinsters and lesbians, enforced by the myth of the “crazy old cat lady.”  This is actually an old-fashioned stereotype and has roots in the suffragette movement. Surprisingly, cats were used as symbols in anti-suffragette postcards to rally public opinion against the women's vote. The card's purpose was to portray suffragettes as “silly, infantile, incompetent, and ill-suited to political engagement, ” per Jezebel. Check out these postcards below.     During the suffragette movement, cats were featured in anti-suffrage cartoons and...

Donald Trump gained notoriety for falsely claiming that President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, was not a U.S. citizen and was lying about his birthplace. This statement was the genesis of the “birtherism” movement where people suspected Obama was lying about his nationality and demanded to see his birth certificate. Many people falsely claimed that Barack Obama was a Muslim. And despite there being nothing wrong with being a Muslim, it was a bald-faced lie, a movement rooted in racism and xenophobia. Even...

In the UK, Tampax recently released a new television ad campaign which shows viewers how to properly insert a tampon. This ad campaign, dubbed “Tampons and Tea,” was launched after Tampax did research and came to the conclusion that 42 percent of tampon users were not inserting it correctly. The number jumps higher to 58 percent in the age bracket of 18- to 24-year-olds. The ad features a fictional daytime show where the host asks the question, “How many of you ever feel your tampon?” After...

Today marks Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, signifying the number of days that a Black woman has to work to earn what white men earned in 2019. That is to say, it takes Black women 226 days to catch up to their white male coworkers’ earnings.  Why so long? To this day, Black women continue to make 62 cents to every dollar that a white man earns. This is a pay disparity that has not tapered for the last 25 years.  It’s Black Women’s Equal Pay Day...

Last night, there was a TikTok posted by Jimi Ono, also known as Melissa Lingafelt, where she accused Drake Bell of verbal and physical abuse during their relationship, which lasted over two years. Bell is best known for his role on the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh. @jimiono This is my truth. I hope this message reaches young girls, and that no one has to go through what I did. ##2020survivor ♬ original sound - jimiono In the TikTok, Ono claimed that she started dating Bell when she 16,...

“We should vote for women because they’re women,” former U.S. representative Katie Hill said in an article for Bustle. Although I understand the sentiment behind her statement, I don’t necessarily agree. Women have been fighting for seats in politics forever. In 2018, the largest class of women came into Congress at 127, but they still only make up 23.7% of the Congress population. So, there is definitely more work to do.  But, as much as we would all like to have more representation in the places that...