“We The People” Didn’t Include Women

Mezdulene with a sign at a women’s march, the ribbons representing individual women in her life.

Our constitution used the terms person and people and one might conclude that meant both men and women. However, that isn’t the case.

Yesterday was July 4th, the day we celebrate the independence of our country. I made a post on Facebook saying something about how freedom in our country is something women have fought hard to gain and that now our rights are being challenged. I ended with “ We aren’t really a free country until we are all free.” I got some interesting responses.

Having the brain that I have, I began thinking and then began researching.

The preamble of our constitution starts: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union….”

One would assume that women were considered people, but under the law we weren’t considered people.

At the time, the Law of Coverture was in effect. This law stated that “By marriage the husband and wife are one person in law.” In other words, a woman was not an independent being. In fact, it wasn’t until the Equal Opportunity Act in 1974 that women were allowed to apply for credit without a man. 1974! That’s almost 200 years after the constitution was written.

Roe vs. Wade in 1973 gave women the right to choose what happens with their own bodies and now that right is being challenged with…