All throughout history, the perseverance of groups who aim to make a difference in the world for the better are the ones who are able to bring substantial change. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is important to recognize both past and current movements that have brought, or are still bringing, the world closer to gender equality.

Women’s Rights Movement:

For the United States, one of the most influential movements in the history of gender equality was the beginning of the Women’s Rights Movement, a period that spanned across the late 19th century and into the 20th century. According to history.house.gov in the essay “The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848-1920,” the focus of the movement was on social issues and other barriers that kept women from equality toward the beginning. However, as time progressed many activists narrowed their efforts to primarily focus on the right to vote. Some of the most well-known people who were apart of making this change possible were Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth and Alice Paul. Finally, in 1920, women were officially given the right to vote with the passing of the 19th amendment.

#MeToo Movement:

The #MeToo movement was founded in 2006 by Tarana Burke with the goal of helping victims of sexual violence find ways to not only deal with their grief, but also to heal. Most recently, the movement’s “Silence Breakers,” those who spoke out about sexual violence, were released as the Time Magazine’s 2017 Person of the Year. This movement has persisted throughout a decade with the focus of shining a light on inequality faced by many people across the world. According to metoomvmt.org, nearly 18 million women have come forward and reported an instance of sexual assault since 1998.

“For too long, survivors of sexual assault and harassment have been in the shadows. We have been afraid to speak up, to say ‘Me too’ and seek accountability,” Burke responded to the Person of the Year announcement.

This movement has also inspired other efforts addressing this same issue, even one here in Manhattan. College student Paige Eichkorn just recently started the club Wildcats Against Sexual Violence at Kansas State University with the slogan #nomore.

Women’s March:

Since the March on Washington a little over a year ago, Women’s March has expanded their reaches to include a variety of goals, both national and global. Currently, the movement is focused on motivating people to register to vote, mobilizing people for the national school walkout in response to school violence and addressing other social issues.

According to womensmarch.com, “The mission of Women’s March is to harness the political power of diverse women and their communities to create transformative social change.”

ERA Coalition:

Yet another movement that pushes for gender equality is the ERA Coalition, a group of people who believe in the need for an Equal Rights Amendment to be added onto to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA was originally passed by Congress in 1972, but needed to be approved by three more states in order to be ratified. “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” the Equal Rights Amendment states.

History has proven that change comes most often through people standing together under the same cause with the same goal in mind. It is clear that this is still the major way that people push for change and address inequalities.

http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Essays/No-Lady/Womens-Rights/

https://metoomvmt.org

https://www.womensmarch.com/mission/

http://www.eracoalition.org/mission.php