In 1920, 36 states ratified the 19^th amendment – the minimum necessary to carry it. Twelve remaining of the 48 states (at that time) would take another 64 years to ratify the amendment. On March 22, 1984 Mississippi was the last state to officially recognize a woman’s right to vote. At that time, my daughters were three years old and 8 months respectively. Ronald Reagan was in office and Michael Jackson had just released the album, Beat It. Unbelievable!

One of the driving forces of the Revolutionary War was anger over taxation without representation. Prior to the 19^th amendment, women didn’t even have a voice, let alone a representative in our country’s government. A woman’s right to be heard in this country is still in its infancy. It’s now our responsibility to make sure that we have something worth saying. I don’t know how many times I’ve been guilty of walking into the voting booth underinformed on the issues and candidates. I don’t plan on exercising my right to vote in ignorance in the future.