Dear John,

This coming Tuesday is Women’s Equality Day, marking 104 years since the 19th Amendment was certified—finally recognizing women’s constitutional right to vote.

But anniversaries like this don’t just sparkle with nostalgia. They burn with unfinished business.

Last week, in Knoxville, Tennessee, history came home. Activists and historians unveiled the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Heritage Trail Museum—just two blocks from where, in August 1920, Tennessee cast the decisive vote to ratify the 19th Amendment. The victory came after 70 years of punishing grassroots struggle led by women who were ridiculed, arrested, beaten—and told to wait.

That museum honors them. But it also warns us: Rights aren’t handed down. They are won—and must be defended.

Fast forward a century.

In January 2020, Virginia ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, becoming the 38th and final state needed to enshrine gender equality in the Constitution. The Feminist Majority, Feminist Majority Foundation, and Ms. Magazine were there every step of the way—rallying generations of feminists, students, and legal minds to cross that finish line – all reported in-depth in the pages of Ms. magazine.

From state legislatures, to Congress, and to the Supreme Court, extremists are clawing back rights that took decades to win: banning abortion, gutting affirmative action, defunding women’s health clinics, criminalizing miscarriage care, and even making it harder to vote.

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s chosen Secretary of Defense, recently reposted a video in which evangelical pastors called for repealing women’s right to vote—echoing the rhetoric of early 20th-century patriarchs. He captioned it: “All of Christ for All of Life.” Let that sink in.

Some of these same far-right influencers have floated undoing the 19th Amendment—as if it were a clerical error, not a democratic milestone.

They know what we know: women’s votes—especially young women’s votes—keep deciding election outcomes. And they’re terrified of that power.

It’s real. And growing. And history proves it:

This fall, the 2025 elections in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey are early tests for what we can—and must—do in 2026. That’s why Women's Equality Day still matters. It's not just a remembrance. It's a reminder.

👉 SIGN THE PETITION: Sign4ERA.org

This national petition urges Congress to do what the Constitution—and history—demand: affirm the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment.

We’re not starting over—as opponents say we must. We’re finishing the job.

Every signature builds the political power we need to spotlight those in Congress who support equality—and call out those who don’t.

Then:  forward this email and...

👉 Ask 3 friends to sign it, too.

We’re asking you to create a chain reaction for equality. Think of it as a chain letter for equality—your signature linked to three others, each one another crack in the wall that holds us back.

But with your voice—and your signature—we make that silence impossible.

The Feminist Majority. The Feminist Majority Foundation. Ms. Three organizations. One movement. Countless victories.

Together, these organizations represent us as policy advocates, campus organizers, legal defenders, investigative journalists. We are mothers, daughters, students, voters, and survivors. We are you. And we’re not going backing down or giving up.

This Women’s Equality Day, we invite you to remember Tennessee’s suffragists—and finish what they started.

Sign the petition.
Forward it to 3 friends.
And let’s make history again.

With fierce resolve,

Ellie Smeal, President

Kathy Spillar, Executive Director

P.S. Signing at Sign4ERA.org takes just a minute. But when you do, and then pass it on to three friends, you help build a wave that no Supreme Court, no extremist, no outdated politician can stop. Let’s turn our snowball of feminist resistance into an avalanche.