Women’s Equality Day commemorates 26th August 1920 when votes to women officially became part of the US constitution.

This day marks a turning point in the history of the struggle for equal treatment of women and women’s rights.

In 1920, the day stood for the result of 72 years of campaigning by a huge civil rights movement for women.

Prior to movements like these, even respected thinkers such as Rousseau and Kant believed that woman’s inferior status in society was completely logical and reasonable; women were ‘beautiful’ and ‘not fit for serious employment’.

Over the last century, great women have proved these views wrong as the world has witnessed just what women are capable of achieving, from the likes of Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt fighting for civil rights and equality to great scientists such as Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and Jane Goodall. The last century has shown more than ever what both women and men are capable of achieving, given the opportunity.

Today, women’s equality has grown to mean much more than just sharing the right to the vote. Organisations such as Equality Now and Womankind Worldwide continue to work to provide women across the globe with equal opportunities to education and employment, pushing against suppression and violence towards women and against the discrimination and stereotyping which still occur in every society.

So on Women’s Equality Day, let the men do the dishes and the women do the DIY, think about supporting women’s empowerment projects in developing countries, stop thinking about men and women as separate beings with separate roles and start thinking about treating people as equals.