Forty-nine years ago, a group of women in Nashua marched down Main Street to call attention to the inequities faced by women. It all started with a two-line advertisement in the Broadcaster written by two women who worked in Nashua’s factories, asking other women to join them informing a consciousness-raising group. After a year of meeting and organizing other groups, the women decided to take some political action to bring about change. We called ourselves”Women United,” because at that time, NOW – the National Organization of Women – was too radical for Nashua. We wanted equal access to education, equal access to jobs, equal pay,childcare, pension rights. Sound familiar?

This is the centennial of suffrage. The suffragists fought for the vote, the second-wave feminists won some equality, but true equal rights are a work in progress. How do we keep pushing for change? The same way our forebears did — vote and organize!