New York has had the privilege of being home to fearless women — trailblazers, such as Susan B. Anthony and Shirley Chisholm, who refused to accept the restrictions placed on them and tore down barriers to equality. As we celebrate Women’s History Month this March, let’s applaud those who fought to extend rights to women, fought valiantly for opportunity and helped make New York the progressive leader it is today. As our nation enters an era that threatens the progress we’ve made, we must recommit ourselves to full equality — no matter how difficult that may be.
Our predecessors demonstrated their commitment to change fearlessly; they often risked their lives for others. Leading abolitionist Harriet Tubman refused to allow the mistreatment of others. While a slave, she protected another field worker and suffered a substantial head injury that would affect her for the rest of her life. After escaping slavery, she returned to slave territory more than a dozen times to lead hundreds of others to freedom. Tubman went on to purchase land in Auburn in 1859 and lived there until her death in 1913.
Other New Yorkers paved the way for millions of women to enroll in school, enter the workforce, and vote in elections. The first American woman to work as an architect was Louise Blanchard Bethune. She designed Buffalo’s historic Hotel Lafayette, which is still standing more than a century later. Her legacy is still standing, too — 40 percent of those earning architecture degrees are now women. Gertrude B. Elion of Manhattan developed treatments for malaria and leukemia and earned a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1988. But when she started out, she had trouble finding a job because almost no one would hire a female chemist. By 2015, women made up more than half of medical scientists and over 35 percent of chemists.
Even more recently, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Brooklyn native who co-founded the Women’s Rights Project, became the second woman to sit on the Supreme Court. Also in the justice realm are Bronx native Sonia Sotomayor who became the third woman and first Hispanic, to sit on the Supreme Court, as well as Manhattan native, Elena Kagan, who became the Court’s fourth female justice in 2010.
Many of these successes can trace back to the suffrage movement launched by New Yorkers Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who organized the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. Their work and the courage of countless other women paid off. The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.
The undercurrents of sexism, racism and bigotry that New York has fought against for centuries could frighteningly become mainstream again. New Yorkers must renew our resolve to be the standard bearers of decency and equality. It’s a fight that we are familiar with.
The Assembly Majority will continue pushing to make full women’s equality a reality. From ensuring equal pay for equal work, to safeguarding women’s reproductive health rights and strengthening protections for victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, the fight goes on. I also know how important it is that each and every New Yorker has access to a quality education and good-paying jobs and a chance at economic security. We will not sit by as our progress is eroded — we will continue to take action.
