August 25, 2008
Voting rights extended 88 years ago
David Harris
dmharris@lsj.com
It's been 88 years since women were first allowed to vote, yet speakers at the Women's Equality Celebration said on Sunday women have not come far enough.
Women are underrepresented in politics and the corporate world, said Vicci Marrero Knowlton, president of Ingham County Women's Foundation that put on the event on the lawn of the Michigan Women's Historical Center and Hall of Fame.
"We are here to encourage women to raise those numbers," she said.
The event took place to celebrate the right to vote and to push issues facing women today.
Shannon Garrett, field director of the Michigan office of the White House Project, said women need to step into leadership roles. The White House Project works to advance women in business, politics and media.
"Our time is now, and it's time for us to start running (for political office)," she said.
Garrett said the women who led the effort to allow women to vote would be disappointed with what they saw.
"I think it's up to us to make the suffragettes proud," she said.
Garrett said women need to lead from the head of the table and not the foot. The best way to do that is to get elected, she said.
State Reps. Alma Wheeler-Smith and Rebekah Warren, both of Washtenaw County, are two of 20 women members in the Michigan House of Representatives. There are 110 members of the House, and they say there needs to be more women represented.
"We'd like a lot more women voting next to us," Warren said.
Women also need to jump into careers that are dominated by men, such as construction, said Patricia Collins of the Michigan Department of Transportation.
There are programs, such as On-the-job Program and the Road Construction Apprenticeship Readiness Program that are designed to get women ingrained in the industry, Collins said.
"This is a great opportunity for women who want to work in construction," Collins said.
