Once again, credit is due to my preacher—Rector of St. Martins-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, the Reverend Mitchell Smith—for inspiring the topic of this week’s KellyGram! Earlier this week, he sent out an e-blast in which he wrote about the Gospel of the Canaanite woman who, through her great persistence and demonstration of faith, persuaded Jesus to heal her daughter. This Gospel story is particularly relevant as we approach August 18th and the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.
Women’s suffrage was a momentous, albeit limited, victory in the long and ongoing fight for women’s equality. At the time, the Nineteenth Amendment did not secure the right to vote for all women; many women of color were unable to exercise that right until forty-five years later, after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That being said, the Nineteenth Amendment was still a significant step in the right direction on the path towards true equality for all people.
Or course, this journey is far from over, and we, as a country, have a lot of work to do. However, we can draw inspiration from the progress we have made thus far and from a long line of women—such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Forten Purvis, and even the Caananite woman, to name a few—whose faithful persistence and advocacy have helped draw us closer to achieving equality.
Events of this week also provide inspiration as we continue to strive for equal rights for women—specifically the selection of Senator Kamala Harris as the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Political parties aside, it is always refreshing to see a woman nominated for national office, and Senator Harris is one of only three women to be selected as the vice president on a major party ticket. Needless to say, it’s been a momentous week for women’s rights, and a reminder that persistence and advocacy accomplish change!
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