Today the House of Representatives recognized Alice Paul for her role in winning women’s suffrage by passing legislation to award her the Congressional Gold Medal. Paul was one of the leading figures responsible for the passage of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote and penned the early version of the Equal Rights Amendment that would enshrine women in the Constitution. This long overdue honor recognizes Alice Paul as one of the great women in history for her work to promote women’s rights, freedom and equality.
The National Organization for Women salutes the work of Representative Joe Baca (D-Calif.) as he gathered 412 bipartisan sponsors for H.R. 406. The House passage of the bill is the first step toward honoring Alice Paul with a Congressional Gold Medal. We will be working with the bill’s counterpart in the Senate, sponsored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), with the goal of having the Gold Medal award posthumously to feminist heroine Alice Paul.
It was because of women like Alice Paul, who dedicated her life to the women’s movement, that organizations like NOW have been able to be legitimate and pertinent forces in politics and in our culture today. It was only 89 years ago that women had no voting rights, little power, and married women had no separate legal status.
With the help of Paul and her tenacity to do what was right, women now can not only vote, but own homes, run businesses, play sports, be a U.S. senator, or become the first woman president.
To honor Paul is to honor her life and work. She was the author of the Equal Rights Amendment, founder of the National Women’s Party, and a lifelong activist for women’s equality. Paul fought tirelessly to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment until her death in 1977, and though the ERA is still not in the Constitution, Paul’s legacy continues today.