Bill Text: HI SCR86 | 2020 | Regular Session | Amended


Bill Title: Requesting The Governor To Recognize And Commemorate August 26, 2020, As Women's Equality Day, Celebrating The Centennial Of, And Honoring Hawaii's Role In, The Women's Suffrage Movement.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 24-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-07-01 - Referred to FIN, referral sheet 52 [SCR86 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-SCR86-Amended.html

THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

86

THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO RECOGNIZE AND COMMEMORATE AUGUST 26, 2020, AS WOMEN'S EQUALITY DAY, CELEBRATING THE CENTENNIAL OF, AND HONORING HAWAII'S ROLE IN, THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT.

 

 


     WHEREAS, in a landmark constitutional victory, the Nineteenth Amendment enshrined in the United States Constitution a more expansive democracy for the nation on August 26, 1920, by prohibiting states from denying the right to vote on the basis of sex; and

 

     WHEREAS, Jeannette Rankin, appointed to the Committee on Woman Suffrage in the Sixty-Fifth session of Congress was the first female member elected and sworn into Congress in April of 1917, one of numerous influential females on the front lines of the fight for national suffrage; and

 

     WHEREAS, women suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony first organized and collectively fought for women's suffrage rights at the national level in July of 1848; and

 

     WHEREAS, during his reign, King Kalākaua also recognized the importance of including women in political decision-making, he relied on the service and advice of women like Emma Kailikapuolono Metcalf Beckley Nakuina, who was appointed Commissioner of Private Ways and Water Rights from 1892 to 1907; and

 

     WHEREAS, Emma Kailikapuolono Metcalf Beckley Nakuina hosted social gatherings of nationally acclaimed women's suffragists; and

 

     WHEREAS, Wilhelmina Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett, a native Hawaiian, founded the National Women's Equal Suffrage Association in 1912, and hosted meetings in her home in an active fight for suffrage encouraging Hawaiian women with her passion for the movement; and

 

     WHEREAS, Queen Liliuokalani, sister to King Kalākaua, as the first and only Queen of Hawaii was a powerful symbol of a woman's ability to govern and participate in civic life; and

 

     WHEREAS, the constitutional monarchy of Hawaii was overthrown in 1893, and in 1898, Hawaii became a United States territory; and

 

     WHEREAS, native Hawaiians argued that as a territory they should have suffrage rights in the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, although, in 1920 Hawaii was not a state and therefore could not vote on the Nineteenth Amendment, Hawaiian women became enfranchised along with their mainland sisters; and

 

     WHEREAS, as a celebratory symbol in support of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, the people of Hawaii sent a ratification star, which is currently displayed at Belmount-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington, to the National Woman's Party; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State has been memorialized by the exemplary leadership of numerous influential women in service of the United States as members of Congress; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mary Elizabeth Farrington, publisher of the "Honolulu Star-Bulletin", served the Eighty-Third and Eighty-Fourth Congressional Sessions; and

 

     WHEREAS, Patsy Takemoto Mink, was born in Paia, was the first woman of color elected to Congress, and was elected and sworn into the Eighty-Ninth, Ninety-First, Ninety-Third, One Hundred-First, and One Hundred-Fifth Sessions. Her contributions to Hawaii have been commemorated by the State's dedication of a statue honoring her legacy; and

 

     WHEREAS, Patricia Saiki worked to preserve Hawaii's natural beauty and unique resources as a member of the One Hundredth Congress; and

 

     WHEREAS, Mazie Hirono, a graduate of Kaimuki High School and the University of Hawaii, served seven consecutive sessions beginning with the One Hundred-Tenth Congressional Session; and

 

     WHEREAS, Colleen Hanabusa, who grew up in Waianae, Oahu, served three terms in the United States House of Representatives, beginning in 2011; and

 

     WHEREAS, Tulsi Gabbard has represented the State in Congress since 2012; and

 

     WHEREAS, the daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters of the women, who fought so hard to vote, have been making their voices heard at the polls for nearly one hundred years; and

 

     WHEREAS, most of the women, who began asking for the right to vote, never lived to see the enfranchisement of women; and

 

     WHEREAS, women are currently running for office in unprecedented numbers.  Many current politicians, both male and female, remember that they follow in the footsteps of these great suffragists; and

 

     WHEREAS, Congress passed a joint resolution in 1973, declaring August twenty-sixth as National Women's Equality Day, to commemorate the certification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, the House of Representatives concurring, that this body requests the Governor to recognize and commemorate August 26, 2020, as Women's Equality Day, celebrating the centennial of, and honoring Hawaii's role in, the Women's Suffrage Movement, thus reaffirming its commitment to empowering and uplifting the voices of women across our great State; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, and Patsy Mink Foundation.

Report Title: 

Women's Suffrage; Nineteenth Amendment; Women's Equality Day

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