In particular, she credits two categories of voters that she herself is part of: Black women and suburban women. Black women and suburban women, in particular, proved to be pillars of Biden's coalition. And despite expectations that the much-analyzed gender gap would expand, it remained essentially the same from previous elections, including 2016. Smeal adds that the gender gap, while perhaps smaller than she’d hoped, was still crucial in the presidential race. Hayes is one of the suburban women who mobilized early, dismayed at what she called the president’s dog whistles in trying to stoke fears among suburban women that low-income housing would invite crime and ruin their neighborhoods.

One hundred years ago, American women gained the guaranteed right to vote, with ratification of the 19th Amendment. She introduced that amendment now known as the Equal Rights Amendment in Congress in 1923. Of course, the ERA, finally passed by Congress in 1972 only to stumble during a circuitous ratification effort, still isnt law. ERA advocates were deeply disappointed, though, when in February, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she thought the entire state ratification process should be started over, dealing current efforts a potentially serious blow. Were celebrating the anniversary of the 19th Amendment that really only gave the right to vote to white women, she says.