Women are advancing in the workplace, but women of color still lag behind

A little over 100 years ago, the U.S. Congress ratified the 19th amendment, which ruled that women could not be denied the right to vote because of their sex. This amendment was the result of hard-fought efforts from many women (and some men) who recognized that disenfranchisement then, as now, was a blight on the nation and hindered the U.S.'s potential to achieve its stated goals of becoming a functioning democracy. The 19th amendment was especially significant for Black women who, despite the 15th amendment's promises of voting rights regardless of race, still could not vote because of their gender. The fact that it took two different constitutional amendments--passed a half century apart--to secure Black women's right to vote underscores how both race and gender have always mattered in significant ways when it comes to women of color.