Today (Wednesday) is Women's Equality Day, a celebration of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which acknowledged the right of women to vote.

While it seems like ancient history -- the amendment became law in 1920 -- we still have a long way to go. Gender discrimination still exists, most notably in the work place. Women are paid 78 cents on average for every dollar earned by men. The disparity is even greater for women of color. We in New York have every right to be proud of our civil rights history. In 1849 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott issued the Declaration of Sentiments, in the Finger Lakes town of Seneca Falls, demanding that the equal status of women be officially recognized and that women be given the right to vote. It was our own Congresswoman, Bella Abzug, who initiated the annual Women's Equality Day commemoration. New York was the first state to enact civil rights legislation outlawing discrimination based on gender, race, creed, a law that continues to be updated to reflect changing social conditions most recently adding protections for victims of domestic violence...

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