Rep. Adams Statement on Women's Equality Day

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12) released the following statement marking Women's Equality Day, commemorating the 101st anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment:

"101 years ago today, the 19th Amendment extended the right to vote to women. However, on this Women's Equality Day, it's important to remember that our fundamental rights must not only be enumerated and guaranteed in the law, they must also be protected by the enforcement of those laws. While some women in states like Wyoming, New Jersey, and Utah earned the right to vote decades before, Black women in the South were still denied the right to vote due to Jim Crow laws. Until the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act gave the federal government the power to protect our right to vote, we had no access to the electoral franchise. Black women know all too well that without federal protections, the right to vote is not guaranteed.

"Though it is clear that ‘when women succeed, America succeeds,' the law itself continues to discriminate against us as well. Without an Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, the courts can and will continue to consider women separately and unequally. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously said, ‘Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn't be that women are the exception.' Women cannot and should not be the exception in the eyes of the law. I will continue to fight for the American woman in the workplace, in the classroom, and any place where a decision is being made for her and about her, but without her. Equality Day is still ‘Inequality Day' until we all have a voice and seat at the table.

"Finally, on this Women's Equality Day, my heart is with all of the women and girls of Afghanistan. While the United States must leave Afghanistan, it comes at a cost, and the greatest cost will be paid by women and girls who seek freedom from oppression. I will continue to call on our government to welcome with open arms every woman and girl from Afghanistan who seeks equality under the law and freedom from tyranny."

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