In this past election, I was finally able to participate by casting my ballot. As a woman and as a daughter of an immigrant, I couldn’t help but feel grateful to even be able to have a voice that matters.
This election, I took some time to reflect on how far we have come as a country and how far we have come as women. It has been 104 years since the 19th Amendment was passed. It was only after hundreds of women went against cultural norms and fought for this right that I was even able to be in the same room as men casting a ballot.
It is profound to see that 104 years ago, women were not considered eligible or smart enough to cast their own ballots. And here, in the 21st century, we have our first woman vice president. With a history of women running for president like Shirley Chisholm and, more modernly, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and Jill Stein, women running goes back as far as 1872. Regardless of which party or which candidate you endorse, it is remarkable to see how far our country has come.
Suffragists like Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells, Sojourner Truth and Alice Paul, to name a few, paved the way for the rights we have today as women. As a result of powerful speeches, rallies and groups, I am able to live the ideal they fought for in my day-to-day life.
Reflecting on the election and my right to vote has led me to think about all the rights I have today that are vastly different from those of women 100 years ago. I am a college student at a co-ed school studying to become a doctor. I am an 18-year-old woman who has the right to choose who I want to be; my life is not written out for me in a cookie-cutter fashion.
As we cast our future ballots, let us remember the countless women who fought tirelessly for our right to do so and honor their legacy by using our voices to create the future we deserve. The power to shape our world is in our hands— let’s continue to build on the progress they began.