2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. To celebrate the occasion and continue promoting the progression of gender equality, Drexel University has put together the largest 19th Amendment celebration in the country throughout the year. 

The celebration, called Women 100, is presented by Vision 2020, a non-partisan national women’s equality coalition housed in the Drexel University College of Medicine. Women 100 is featuring a year’s worth of programming to look at the past and future of women’s equality, and includes a massive voter mobilization event to encourage women to break voter turnout records in the upcoming election.

“Vision 2020 was created by the Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership more than a decade ago with a focus on the year 2020 and the 100th anniversary of American women’s voting rights, the first significant step towards women’s equality,” said Vision 2020 Founder and President Lynn Yeakel.

This past Friday, Oct. 16, Women 100 led the SHE Leads Road Rally for women’s rights that took place in Seneca Falls, New York, the birthplace of the women’s rights movement.

Other causes of the march included support for Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community, healthcare and a woman’s right to choose, adoption of COVID-19 guidelines, safe and fair elections and support for fair immigration policies. 

In addition to the march, Vision 2020 leaders and volunteers retraced the journey of Lucretia Mott and her suffragist compatriots as they traveled from Philadelphia to the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, led by women race car drivers. 

The historic trip included a finish line celebration with toasts, speakers and singer-songwriter and advocate, Meghan Cary.

Cary’s song “River Rock” inspired an equality-based initiative that uses music to celebrate women’s rights, and inspire continued action to achieve social, political and economic equality. The song was broadcasted live from the rally on the global internet radio station Folk Music Notebook.

The acronym in the road rally’s name represents Vision 2020’s goals: shape the future through shared leadership among women and men, honor the suffragists and enrich the opportunities of new generations of Americans through gender equality.