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Friday, November 13, 2026Nov 13

Sohn: Women’s History Month shows we still must persist

Associated Press file photo / In this Feb. 23 file photo, Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., listens during the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on her nomination to be Interior secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Some Republican senators labeled Haaland "radical" over her calls to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and address climate change, and said that could hurt rural America and major oil and gas-producing states. The label of Haaland as a "radical" by Republican lawmakers is getting pushback from Native Americans.
Associated Press file photo / In this Feb. 23 file photo, Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., listens during the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on her nomination to be Interior secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Some Republican senators labeled Haaland "radical" over her calls to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and address climate change, and said that could hurt rural America and major oil and gas-producing states. The label of Haaland as a "radical" by Republican lawmakers is getting pushback from Native Americans.

Throughout March, we honor the incredible persistence and inspiring achievements of women in our nation’s history. We honor their confidence, fearlessness and grit, and then we go back to business as usual. More pointedly, we watch as our country’s good old boy system too often relegates women to their place – as second-class citizens.

We sound bitter, you think? No. Simply and plainly, we’re mad. Still. Thus we persist.

The Declaration of Independence, penned in 1776, read, “… all men are created equal.”

White male property owners could vote from the beginning, but it wasn’t until 1828 that all non-property-holding white men could vote.

In 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified and Black men gained the right to vote.