08/18/2026
On This Day: American Women Secure the Right to Vote:
On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the decisive 36th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment established that the right to vote could not be denied on account of s*x. Its ratification marked the culmination of generations of perseverance by women and their supporters—and an important milestone in the continuing effort to recognize women’s equal dignity and participation in public life.
The Associated Press recalls this historic event in today’s Today in History:
“Today in History: August 18, 19th Amendment Gives Women the Vote”
Associated Press, August 18, 2026
Read the complete AP article: https://apnews.com/article/f56ae1d972aae42889819381361a57fc?
On this anniversary we may also call to mind St. John Paul II’s landmark apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem—On the Dignity and Vocation of Women. https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19880815_mulieris-dignitatem.html
John Paul II emphasized the equal personal dignity of women and men while reflecting on women’s distinctive vocation and indispensable influence in the family, the Church, culture, professional life, and society. He later spoke of the “feminine genius”: women’s particular capacity to recognize, receive, and serve the dignity of the human person. Political participation is one important expression of that dignity and responsibility. As he observed, our age has witnessed women acquiring “an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved.”
Other works of St. John Paul II concerning women:
Letter to Women (1995)
Women: Teachers of Peace (1995 World Day of Peace message)
Letter to Gertrude Mongella concerning the UN World Conference on Women (1995)
“The Media: Modern Forum for Promoting the Role of Women in Society” (1996)
Evangelium Vitae, especially its discussion of a “new feminism” (1995)
Vita Consecrata, particularly its treatment of women’s contributions to theology, culture, and the Church (1996)
1. THE DIGNITY AND THE VOCATION OF WOMEN - a subject of constant human and Christian reflection - have gained exceptional prominence in recent years. This can be seen, for example, in the statements of the Church's Magisterium present in various documents of the Second Vatican Council, which declare...
