The struggle over the Equal Rights Amendment started more than a century ago when suffragist Alice Paul first proposed it shortly after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

SAN ANTONIO – Cindy Onyekwelu won’t take her right to vote for granted. “I couldn’t just sit there at home and not vote because I want to participate in making history," she said. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris addressed the nation Saturday. Onyekwelu said she was moved by Harris' speech, which gave her hope that anything is possible. The 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, was passed 100 years ago.

Women wearing masks pose behind a voter registration table in Union Square as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on August 09, 2020 in New York City. Photo by Alexi RosenfeldAug. 18 marked the 100-year anniversary of the 19th Amendment being ratified, which changed elections forever. The 19th Amendment prohibits the state and federal government from denying the right of citizens to vote based on sex -- meaning, women became eligible to vote after previous years of discrimination at the polls. Since 1980, more women have voted in each presidential election than men, according to Statista. So, how much of a gap has there been between women and men voters in each presidential election of the century?

SAN ANTONIO – A female pilot participating in the flyover celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19 Amendment Friday is hoping the event encourages women from all backgrounds to keep reaching for the stars. I watched ‘Top Gun’ and was like, ‘Man that was really cool!’ But the spark really happened around junior year of high school. I really started looking into the aviation job market. Here is somebody that is like me that is doing it.’”Law said the flyover is a physical manifestation to her. “It is a picture of where we are as women,” Law said.

Pilot participating in flyover celebrating 19th Amendment shares experiencePublished: August 18, 2020, 10:44 pmA female pilot participating in the flyover celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19 Amendment Friday is hoping the event encourages women from all backgrounds to keep reaching for the stars.

SAN ANTONIO – In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote, a team of female pilots flew over San Antonio on Friday. The planes then flew over Victor Braunig Lake and landed at Stinson Airport. Dana Perez - She will be flying a 1980 Beechcraft Bonanza A36 and will be piloting aircraft No. Information from Visit San Antonio doesn’t specify what type of aircraft she is expected to fly. To learn more about the women who were involved in the flyover, click here.

SAN ANTONIO – It was inequity in pay between her and her male colleagues that set pharmacist-turned-activist Minnie Fisher Cunningham on a mission to help Texas women get the right to vote in the early 1900s. Cunningham helped create the Texas Equal Suffrage Association and served as the first executive secretary of the League of Women Voters. She worked hard, forming critical political relationships and building grassroots support, which helped her accomplish her mission 100 years ago this month. Cunningham was part of a team, who met with then-President Woodrow Wilson, that successfully encouraged him to release a statement leaning toward suffrage. Cunningham was the first woman in Texas to run for U.S. Senate in 1928.

SAN ANTONIO – After leaving her job as a teacher, Mexican-American journalist Jovita Idar used her father’s weekly newspaper to advocate for women’s rights. Through her writing for La Cronica – and against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution - Idar urged women to educate themselves so they wouldn’t have to rely on men. Her motto – “When you educate a woman, you educate a family.”Idar joined the first Mexican congress in Laredo, and then founded the League of Mexican Women, becoming its first president. When the Texas Rangers arrived to shut down the paper because of her article, Idar stood in front of the door, refusing to allow them to enter. In 1921, she moved from Laredo to San Antonio, where she continued to be a voice for women and established a free kindergarten.

SAN ANTONIO – Rena Maverick Green worked as an artist, but in her spare time, she advocated tirelessly as a proponent for women’s rights. She fought for women’s suffrage in Washington D.C. and as a member of the National Women’s Party of Texas. Green served as president of the San Antonio Equal Franchise Society – helping register women to vote after the 19th Amendment passed. In 1924, Green helped establish the Conservation Society of San Antonio. She and the organization - which is still very active in San Antonio - have been credited for protecting and preserving the city’s natural environments and historic structures, including The Missions.

SAN ANTONIO – As we commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, did you know that San Antonio’s own Mary Eleanor Brackenridge was the first woman to register to vote in Bexar County? A leader in Texas suffrage organizations, Brackenridge was considered a “late bloomer” when it came to activism. She was in her 70s when she published a pamphlet called, “The Legal Status of Women in Texas” and worked hard to revive the Texas Woman Suffrage Association. Because of Brackenridge’s tireless efforts in the suffrage movement, Texas was the first southern state to give women the right to vote and became the ninth state in the union to ratify the 19th Amendment. If the Brackenridge name sounds familiar – her brother, also a philanthropist, donated the land that is now known as Brackenridge Park.

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will pardon Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the womens suffrage movement, who was arrested for voting in 1872 in violation of laws permitting only men to vote. Anthony is best known for her role in the movement to secure voting rights for women, but she also was a strong anti-slavery and voting rights pioneer. Trumps pardon comes 100 years after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which ensured women the right to vote. Trump has denied asking for the mail to be delayed even as he leveled fresh criticism on mail-in voting. Anthony was arrested for voting in her hometown of Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicized trial.

“The 19th Amendment ensured the vote for women in the United States, Black women and white women. And that is the matter of racism in the women’s suffrage movement in the United States,” she said. It wouldn’t be until 1965′s federal Voter’s Rights Act, that everyone, including Black women, had the right to vote. “That comes as a big split, sense of betrayal, I think, on the part of white women. Meanwhile, white women were attempting to pass women’s suffrage state by state, largely focusing on Southern states.

SAN ANTONIO – If you took a stroll along the San Antonio River Walk on Sunday, you may have noticed some white ribbons wrapped along the trees. Those are placed to honor women gaining the right to vote in 1920. The San Antonio 19th Amendment Centennial Committee is hosting a series of events with support from the city that celebrates these voting rights. More events similar to this one are planned, beginning Tuesday, Aug. 18 to Aug. 26. Tennessee passed the amendment on Aug. 18, but it wasn’t until Aug. 26 that Congress certified the results.

Of the states yet to vote, Tennessee was the only one where ratification was considered possible under prevailing political conditions. At that time, women in more than half the states could vote in presidential elections. The attitude was, If you ratify the 19th Amendment, youre not a good son of the South,' Spruill said. 'These white radical women from outside are going to insist that Black women get the vote. The 19th Amendment was a starting point, wrote Sharon Harley, a professor of African American Studies at the University of Maryland.

Before women got the right to vote, the 15th Amendment, which passed in 1869 and was ratified the following year, gave Black men the right to vote. St. Mary’s University history professor Teresa Van Hoy says the move didn’t sit well with some white women. “One of the first things they said is that Black men should not receive the vote before white women,” Van Hoy said. Ad“They made many racist remarks about Black men,” Van Hoy said. “The 19th Amendment ensured the vote for women in the United States, Black women and white women,” Van Hoy said.