#EmbraceEquity

embrace – verb – ɪmˈbreɪs – to willingly and enthusiastically accept, adopt, and espouse

International Women’s Day 2023. Wednesday, March 8

Susan B. Anthony was a political activist and an advocate of women’s rights. After the Civil War, she fought for the 14th Amendment that was meant to grant all naturalized and native-born Americans citizenship in the hope it would include suffrage rights. Although the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, it still didn’t secure their vote. In 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to continue the fight for women’s rights.

In the early 1900s, women were experiencing pay inequality, a lack of voting rights, and they were being overworked. In response to all of this, 15,000 women marched through New York City in 1908 to demand their rights.

In 1909, the first National Women’s Day was observed in accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. This was celebrated on the last Sunday of February until 1913.

An International Women’s Conference was organized in August 1910 by Clara Zetkin, a German suffragist and leader in the Women’s Office. Zetkin proposed a special Women’s Day to be organized annually and International Women’s Day was honored the following year in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, with more than one million attending the rallies.

On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified and white women were granted the right to vote in the U.S.

The liberation movement took place in the 1960s and the effort led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, allowing all women the right to vote. When the internet became more commonplace, feminism and the fight against gender inequality experienced a resurgence.

Now we celebrate International Women’s Day each year as we push continuously with the hope of creating a completely equal society.

How do we do that?

When we embrace equity, we embrace diversity, and we embrace inclusion.

We embrace equity to forge harmony and unity, and to help drive success for all.

Equality is the goal, and equity is the means to get there. 

Through the process of equity, we can reach equality.

EXAMPLE OF EQUALITY

A city cuts the budget for 25 community centers by reducing the operational hours for all centers by the same amount at the same times.

EXAMPLE OF EQUITY

The city determines which times and how many hours communities actually need to use their community centers and reduces hours for centers that aren’t used as frequently.

Couple more examples.

Equality – A community meeting, where all members of the community are invited, about a local environmental health concern is held in English though English is not the primary language for 25% of the residents.

Equity – The community leaders hire translators to attend the meeting or offer an additional meeting held in another language.

Equality – All public schools in a community have computer labs with the same number of computers and hours of operation during school hours.

Equity – Computer labs in lower income neighborhoods have more computers and printers, as well as longer hours of operation, as some students don’t have access to computers or internet at home.

Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.

Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.  

While the terms equity and equality may sound similar, the implementation of one versus the other can lead to dramatically different outcomes for marginalized people.

Like women.

#EmbraceEquity