Just in Time for Equal Pay Day, There Is Now a National Monument Dedicated to Women's Equality
Woooo!
If you have studied American history and/or seen Iron-Jawed Angels, the suffragette movie in which Hilary Swank and Patrick Dempsey squash any rom-com sentiments you may have had, you will know who Alice Paul was. Short answer: a badass who now has her own national monument.
The Obama administration will designate the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum in Washington, D.C. as the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument (sucks for Sewall) today, AKA Equal Pay Day. From 1929 to 1997, the historic location served as the headquarters for the National Woman's Party, after which it became a museum.
BREAKING: @POTUS will designate a new national monument honoring women’s equality → https://t.co/O7DbjzSZZ3 pic.twitter.com/EEXoL7I27HApril 11, 2016
There are a lot of Debbie Downers being like "THIS IS NOT ENOUGH" (which is fair), but just listen to what Paige Harrington, the house's executive director, had to say in an interview with National Geographic: "There are women today that are in their 60s and 70s who come to this house and they say, 'When I was a coed, and I was in D.C...I walked up those stairs, rang that bell, and Alice Paul answered the door.' And to them, it is a pivotal moment in their lives."
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Chelsea Peng is a writer and editor who was formerly the assistant editor at Marie Claire. She's also worked for The Strategist and Refinery29, and is a graduate of Northwestern University. On her tombstone, she would like a GIF of herself that's better than the one that already exists on the Internet and a free fro-yo machine. Besides frozen dairy products, she's into pirates, carbs, Balzac, and snacking so hard she has to go lie down.