Philadelphia – Mayor Jim Kenney today joined the Philadelphia Commission for Women and the Office of Public Engagement to celebrate Women’s Equality Day in City Hall.  Women’s Equality Day is the nationally-recognized commemoration of the 19th Amendment passed in 1920 that gave women the right to vote. The event kicked of a City Hall voter registration drive in collaboration with the Philadelphia Commission for Women, the Office of Public Engagement and the City Commissioner’s Office.

“Last month Philadelphia was the backdrop for the first woman in American history to accept a major party’s endorsement for president, less than 100 years after women gained the right to vote,” said Mayor Kenney.  “This is why it’s appropriate to launch this voter registration drive today and continue to do our part as a city to help increase civic engagement among women.”

Also attended by local, state and federal female elected officials, the celebration was honored with a city proclamation and a resolution presented by Philadelphia City Council.  Poet Laureate for the city, Yolanda Wisher, also provided an original piece for the program.

“As we celebrate Women’s Equality today, we are reminded of just how powerful our right to vote is–a right so essential to our democracy that it fueled a civil rights movement that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” remarked Jovida Hill, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Commission for Women.

Additional speakers included Deputy Mayor for Public Engagement Nina Ahmad, Councilwoman Helen Gym, State Rep. Donna Bullock, City Commissioner Lisa Deeley, Sheryl L. Johnson, Regional Counsel, Region III, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, all of whom spoke to the importance of celebrating the role of women in the democratic process.