BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Democratic Party today released the following statement from Chair Karen Carter Peterson honoring Women’s Equality Day:
“As we recognize the 94th anniversary of the certification of the 19th Amendment as Women’s Equality Day, it’s important to remember the struggle for women’s suffrage was not an overnight victory. It took decades of hard work to enshrine this right in our Constitution, and it took decades more to extend the 19th Amendment’s protections to all women.
“Today American women exercise their right to vote at a higher rate than men, but we still lag in the numbers of women serving in elected office. Louisiana has the lowest percentage of women serving in the legislature of any state in the nation, and we must do more to encourage Louisiana women to run and then train them to win.
“Given the low percentage of women serving in the statehouse, it shouldn’t be surprising that our policies do not reflect the needs of Louisiana women and their families. Our state ranks 50th in the nation for pay equality, and this legislative session we actually went backward on this issue. We have a strong champion on the issue of equal pay in Senator Mary Landrieu, but she’s running against a GOP opponent who has actually voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and Paycheck Fairness Act.
“On this Women’s Equality Day I would encourage all Louisianians to honor this day by making a plan to make their voices heard at the ballot box in 2014 and beyond.”
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