"Ain't I As Good As A Horse?"

(Article written by Raquel Irizarry who has an MSSW from Columbia School of Social Work and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary.)

We recently lost Gloria Steinem on September 2nd (who is considered the mother of the second wave of feminism in the 1970s to the present), and I am looking back to Women’s Equality Day, August 26th, a day that marks the date women received the right to vote in the U.S. These two dates were so close to one another, both referencing the struggle for women's equality, but what is echoing in my mind is the remembrance that when women’s suffrage began in this country, women of color were not included (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/vote-not-all-women-gained-right-to-vote-in-1920/). On August 26, 1920, women were given the right to vote in the U.S., but not all women. Women of color were left out. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA passed by Congress in 1972 but not ratified) that declares that states cannot deny equality of rights under the law on account of sex still has not been adopted. 85% member states of the UN have constitutions that prohibit discrimination by sex (https://equalitynow.org/what-we-do/achieve_legal_equality/the-equal-rights-amendment-equality-in-the-u-s-constitution/). You would think in these modern times in the U.S., when there are so many women in the workforce and voting, that the ERA would have been ratified. By not being ratified and codifying that women and men are equal under the law, this only continues to leave the door open for abuse of women of color and women as a whole. Consider the recent attacks on women and women of color by our Secretary of Defense blocking the promotions of career officers by removing them from the promotions list https://www.npr.org/2026/03/27/nx-s1-5763863/hegseth-soldiers-promotions.

Historically work done by women of color has been set aside as unequal to other workers, as in the exclusion of domestic and farm workers from the Social Security Act 1935, which was half the workforce and most deliberately excluded African Americans (https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v70n4/v70n4p49.html)

And we see this exclusion again today with New York City homecare workers having to work 24-hour shifts, as illustrated by Homecare Workers and Ain’t I A Woman Coalition (AIW) of the NO MORE 24 Movement, showing how some workers are protected from a 24-hour workday, but not homecare workers (https://nomore24.org/). New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin who has been an advocate for women’s rights, refuses to bring the NO MORE 24 bill (Intro 303) to the council floor for a vote, reinforcing the exclusionary and discriminatory practice of keeping homecare workers, the vast majority of which are women of color and immigrants, from having the same equal rights as other laborers in New York City, such as not being abused or forced into modern-day slavery in the workplace. It is with moral sadness and incredulity to hear that Speaker Julie Menin endorses Romanch’s Law, which will phase out and ultimately ban horse-drawn carriages because they cause abuse and suffering of an animal, but she cannot see that women homecare workers who are "women" like herself deserve the same consideration council.nyc.gov/press/2026/07/14/3175/.

The question begs, "Ain’t I As Good As A Horse?"

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About the author: Raquel Irizarry has an MSSW from Columbia School of Social Work and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary. She is a lay minister with the United Church of Christ, is also a Coordinating Committee Member of the NYC/NYS Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival and one of the Co-Founders of Brooklyn Interfaith.