AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The League of Women Voters of CSRA celebrated Women’s Equality Day on Sunday with a fashion show at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta.
Dozens of professional and local models walked the runway, presenting various outfits representing different eras of the women’s suffrage movement.
Organizers said it was important to highlight events like this to commemorate the full history of women’s struggles for voting and basic rights.
“We will also highlight the fact that the 19th Amendment was passed 104 years ago, but only gave some women the right to vote. African-American women did not receive the right to vote until 1965, and for Native American women it was even later,” said Gayla Keesee, co-president of the CSRA’s League of Women Voters.
League of Women Voters leaders continue to fight to restore reproductive rights and for Congress to add the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution.
This was a proposed amendment to the 1923 Constitution that would prohibit discrimination based on sex and guarantee equal rights regardless of gender.
Keesee said the fight for comprehensive rights and protections begins with protecting what people already have.
“It is very important that people realize that democracy is a participatory act and that we all have to be involved for democracy to work,” Keesee said.
The official date for Women’s Equality Day is August 26th.
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