Today the US is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution that ‘gave’* white women the right to vote with these words:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Today, 100 years later, we are still struggling for equality and equity. We’ve come further: black, brown, indigenous, and more women also have the right to vote, women are earning more university degrees, and we acknowledge more frequently that gender & sex are not limited to two binary options.

But we are also still doing the work: women earn less all over the world; the COVID lay-offs and ‘pivots’ are impacting us 3x as much as men; we still do 70% more of the housework.

Today I am honoring this day with my own one-person march, in

my house, with this shirt.

If you are lucky enough to have been born into a country with ancestors that struggled, and most likely died, so that you could vote, then:

VOTE

If you are lucky enough to have been born into a country with a current system that permits you to vote without putting your life at risk — at the same time in history that people in Belarus, Hong Kong, Thailand, and more are putting their lives on the land to vote — then, dammit:

VOTE

We haven’t reached where we want to go. There are many important ways to get closer. All of them require us to #BraveItUp in small and big ways. All of them are worth it. Not all of them are for you or me.

For me, I speak up and out often, attend activist sessions, read books, listen to podcasts, learn new non-white-or-US-centered history, donate money, travel, raise my kids with love, and vote.

What about you? How are you doing the work towards greater equality?

*What a load of crap. No one ‘gave’ anyone the right to vote. There is always a history of struggle and death behind every right to vote. They earned it; we must protect it.

**Allies show up. Support equality? Show up. And keep showing up. Then welcome the opportunity to share the power.