“Are young women in this country to be considered an equal part of America’s great potential or part of corporate America’s profit margin?”
Voting and equal rights activist Madison Kimery knocks out another tremendous speech, and this time it was at the Women Advance Women’s Summit 2015.
Kimrey starts by letting the audience know she’s worried about what the future holds for women and urges young people to engage in the political process.
“The reason I’m here today, that I started really believing I could get involved at the age of twelve and am here at the ripe old age of 14 and am still involved, is because I went to a Moral Monday event. I bet some of you were at that same event two years ago, where Miss Rosanell Eaton told us she was, ‘fed up, fired, up, and ready to go.’ I learned about things going on in our state I had no idea were happening. I learned there were a lot of people, regular citizens just like me, who were joining together to make better things happen and I heard the phrase that’s become an integral part of the way I think about my own citizenship and my vision for the future I want to see, ‘Forward together, not one step back.'”
Kimrey ties in her activism with the author of the Equal Rights Amendment, Dr. Alice Paul:
“There was another young woman, from Moorestown, New Jersey, who back in the late 19th century when she was a young girl, attended suffrage meetings with her mother. Her name was Alice Paul. She would go on to help lead the movement that gave women the right to vote and penned the Equal Rights Amendment: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Alice Paul knew that the fight was not over when women got the right to vote. She knew that our voice at the ballot was the first step in achieving a society where all women had equal opportunity and protection under the law. More than a century later, women have made great progress. I have opportunities to do things and be things that my grandmother didn’t. But even if I use those opportunities, go to college, and get an advanced degree that leads to the career of my dreams, I could make as much as 2 million dollars less over the course of my career just because I’m a woman.”
She nails it here (emphasis mine) :
“Young women today know a fair amount about feminism and are talking about it. We see our friends sent home for dress code violations based on rules that treat our female bodies as impediments to the education of boys. We’re worried about sexual assaults on our campuses and the ways our schools are dealing, or are failing to deal, with this. We see the way our access to healthcare and comprehensive sex education is being limited. But many young women either don’t know about the Equal Rights Amendment, think we already have Constitutional equality, or don’t understand why having Constitutional equality is important. So it’s been left mostly up to older women, some of whom have been working for the ERA since the 1970’s, to continue to work to raise awareness and contact lawmakers.”
Her ten minute speech should be heard by every young person in the United States.
Kimrey has a unique talent. She’s able to educate, inspire and entertain – a killer combination that will not only benefit her as she blossoms into a remarkable woman, but will benefit anyone who has the privilege of hearing her innate wisdom.
Like Madison’s Facebook page: NC Youth Rock.
Watch her entire speech and be awed.
Like Kimberley A. Johnson on Facebook HERE or follow her HERE
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