TRENTON – Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg issued the following statement on Women’s Equality Day, which is observed on August 26 of each year to recognize the certification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
“Tomorrow, we will mark the date on which women in the United States won the right to vote. Women’s suffrage represented important progress for our country. Yet, nearly a century later, there is still much work to do to establish true equality for women, as well as for minorities, for individuals with disabilities and our LGBT brothers and sisters.
“This year, as we recognize Women’s Equality Day, we must recommit to the fight for equal rights and for policies that will protect future generations from discriminatory treatment. This is a fight that has taken on increasing significance with the election of a President who is intent on reversing the progress we’ve made on so many issues, from health care to race relations and LGBT rights.
“Now, more than ever, states must lead on these issues. I am committed to doing so, and look forward to a new administration that will support the policies that are important to families in our state, and that we have been fighting for, including women’s access to health care, equal pay for equal work, family leave policies that reflect the twenty-first century needs of workers and so many others.
“August 26 is a special day to celebrate women’s equality with our aspirations to achieve that equality. What happens to women, happens to our families, and what happens to our families happens to our communities, to our state, and indeed to our nation.”