Gender Equality

By Suzanne Joyce Savary

Champion of Women

Generations of women have fought too hard and for too long for the rights we revere for us to allow anyone to stop us now. I will fight for the right to self-determination for all women and girls because, as Hillary so memorably said, " ...Women's rights are Human Rights."

I moved into New York City on the day in 1970 of the famous March down 5th Avenue and I raced down there to be a part of history. Within six months I was teaching in the Communications Department at Hunter College and participating in Consciousness Raising Groups. As women around America got it, they started using the skills they had learned during the Civil Rights movement to fight for their own freedom. I have fought my whole life for opportunity for women and girls and am shocked that we are still fighting battles we thought we won four decades ago. My three grandaughters have a right to be paid an equal amount to men when they do equal work, instead of the 77 cents on the dollar that women still make.

No woman (or man) should ever work full time and still not be able to rise above the poverty line. For me, this fight is personal. I have accomplished most of what I set out to do in my life other than being able to save my husband from dying of cancer. But, the unfinished business of my life is women's equality. Together we can do this.