In 1920, 100 years ago nearly to the day, Alice Paul said, “It is incredible to me that any woman should consider the fight for full equality won. It has just begun.”
This month and this week, specifically, we celebrate the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. To me, it’s hard to believe that we’ve only had the right to vote for 100 years. In the grand scheme of things, 100 years doesn’t seem terribly long.
I feel very humbled when I read the stories of the suffrage movement. I can’t imagine what life was like back when my ancestors were fighting for their basic rights. That’s why I feel so fortunate today, and this week in particular, to bring a publication to press that features just how far we’ve come in the communities we serve here in the Charlotte area.
There are so many incredible women in this community who have made huge strides in putting women in places where it used to only be possible for men. I have been very fortunate in my own life to have strong, powerful, female role models who inspired me to dream. I have a daughter of my own that won’t even know the struggles I’ve faced over the years because by the time she is an adult, I pray, those struggles will be so far behind us that they’d just be memories to some of us and not a reality to most.
As we look around today, there are thousands of women-owned businesses, hundreds of female CEOs in some of the largest companies in the world, and formidable female politicians making an impact in our local government and on Capitol Hill. I think about how far we have come in these last 100 years and it’s truly encouraging.
Of course, as Alice Paul said, our work has merely just begun even 100 years later. I am proud to highlight some incredible women in this week’s issue as a way to honor the women who came before us and to thank the women who help push us forward day after day. I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I have.
So, on that note, this one’s for the girls.