State of Hawaii Women’s Legislative Caucus Overview
For over 30 years, the Hawai’i Women’s Legislative Caucus has advocated for the diverse interests of women, children and families throughout the Aloha State. The bi-partisan organization is comprised of women legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives, consisting of seventeen members from the House and seven from the Senate.
Each year, the Women’s Legislative Caucus introduces an official package of bills and resolutions in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Measures included in the package are based upon approval by seventy five percent of the Caucus members, aimed to improve the lives of women and
girls in Hawai’i. The caucus focuses on legislation promoting women and girls’ health, gender equality, eliminating violence against women and providing safe work spaces, successfully passing many bills into law over the past three decades that have significantly improved lives of women and children.
The 2020 Caucus Package Dedication is to the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote
In 1848 the first Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, marked the beginning of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. Over the
next 50 years, women like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other women’s rights pioneers began working tirelessly, circulating petitions and lobbying with Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to enfranchise women. After 50 years of arrests, public beatings, and ridicule by men, and even some women, the 19th amendment was enacted on August 18, 1920, granting women the right to vote in the United States.
While celebrating the 19th amendment we cannot forget that many women of color went through additional obstacles to practice their right to vote. Including: having to wait in line for hours to register to vote; and taking tests requiring them to read and interpret the constitution before being deemed eligible to vote; until the Voting Rights Act passed in the 1960s. Furthermore, Native Hawaiian women suffered the added indignity of losing the right to vote in the 1893 overthrow, as women in the Hawaiian Kingdom had the right to vote and were active participants in politics. Following the overthrow, women like Wilhelmina Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett worked tirelessly to return their right to vote for native women.
Women have played a vital role in shaping public policy and the world. We must continue to make strides to achieve pay equity, gender parity and the
elimination of violence against women. The Women’s Legislative Caucus is encouraging authorities to make a conscious eff0rt to reach these goals by
appointing more qualified women to our governing judiciary, boards and commissions.
The best way we can honor suffragettes is by more women stepping forward to run for office, applying to be judges and members of state policy-making boards and commissions. We should be inspired by these fearless pioneers, committing ourselves to work for all women and girls in Hawaii, for a brighter future that will lift all families in our state.
