March 8th was International Women’s Day and women around the country celebrated by reminiscing about the past and taking special attention to how far they have come in the last one hundred years.

Gender equality has been a great issue not only in the United States, but around the entire globe. Although gender equality still exists to some degree in America, women have come a long way in their fight for social equality and justice. Let’s take a look at the recent history of women’s political actions:

1900: The first United States Women’s Rights Convention was held in New York at the Seneca Falls Convention, where individuals signed the Declaration of Sentiments.

1916: The first female member of Congress, Jeanette Rankin, is elected to the House of Representatives.

1920: The 19th Amendment it passed, giving all American women the right to vote.

1923: The Equal Rights Amendment is drafted by Alice Walker and is introduced into Congress.

1981: Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in as the first female Supreme Court Justice.

1996: Madeleine K Albright becomes the first woman appointed to serve as the United States Secretary of State.

2007: Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

These years and events show how women consistently fought for their natural rights and were not accepting the gender discrimination of the past. As can be seen through the course of the timeline, these events are relatively recent; it is only in the past one hundred years that women have actually begun to be treated as equals in the social and political atmosphere. It is remarkable to see the progress that America has made in such a short amount of time. Furthermore, it is amazing to say that it is even a possibility to have a woman be our president soon. This shows how society is slowly warming up to crazy idea that women and men can do the same job at the same successful level.

However, are women done with their fight for equality? No, they are not. Sidney Tran (11) said that gender inequality is “still a problem but not as big of a deal anymore. It is still a problem because men still get paid more on average.” This is absolutely true. A 2010 study showed that women, on average, make about seventy-seven cents for every man’s dollar. Obviously, the women’s rights movement is not over yet and women will keep striving to obtain equality in the working force.