Meet 2 Atlanta women who have been fighting for women’s equality for decades

Recently, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted a CNN report in which two leaders of Christ Church in Idaho said they would support the repeal of the 19th Amendment and that only the head of a household, typically a man, should cast a vote for that unit.

Hegseth is a member of a church affiliated with a network founded by one of those leaders, according to a CNN article. The Pentagon later clarified Hegseth believes women should have the right to vote.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

“Women’s Equality Day means a whole lot in terms of the fight it took for the women’s right to vote,” said Dázon Dixon Diallo, founder of the Atlanta-based women’s HIV, sexual and reproductive justice nonprofit SisterLove. “We have to stay vigilant on the fact that the vote really, really, really, really matters, because it is the cornerstone of our democracy. … Do not rest on your laurels. Period.”

Diallo has been working to advance women’s equality for more than 40 years, eventually founding SisterLove in 1989 when she realized there were no organizations in the Southeast dedicated to providing services and resources to women with HIV.

In the decades of activism, “just like in anything in life, there are losses and there are wins, but you cannot let the losses stop you,” Diallo said.

Diallo likened it to rooting for a favorite sports team. Fans stick to their team, win or lose, and keep hope each season will be a championship year.

“That’s the same kind of energy we have to have for our freedoms, for our liberties, for our civil and our human rights, our right to exist in the way that we choose to as individuals and as groups,” she said. “The championship is when we all have achieved equality and equity in our freedoms.”

For Pat Mitchell, a trailblazing Atlanta-based journalist and co-founder and partner of climate justice campaign Project Dandelion, equality for women would mean women have the same opportunities as men to exercise their full potential.

“At this point, it’s one that I’ve been fighting for, honestly, since I think I became aware of being a woman or being a girl — and realizing how limited my opportunities and even the expectations around what I would do and be in my life were. … So it’s been a lifelong struggle, and now I find myself at 82 years old right back on the front lines of that struggle again,” Mitchell said.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

One of the key things Mitchell has been fighting for is the Equal Rights Amendment, which Congress passed in 1972 and would guarantee in the Constitution equal rights for all regardless of sex.

Mitchell has been working since the 1970s on the campaign to have it added to the Constitution, but it has taken decades to reach the required 38 state ratifications, and the amendment is now in a legal limbo.

She helped campaign President Joe Biden in the waning months of his administration to order the U.S. archivist to certify the amendment. A few days before leaving office, Biden issued a statement saying he believed the ERA Amendment “is the law of the land,” but he went no further than that.

“He didn’t require the archivist to sign it, so it wasn’t — and still isn’t — the law of the land,” Mitchell said.

What has kept her going over the decades in the fight is clinging to hope.

“I think of it as a strategy,” Mitchell said, “because when you lose hope, you lose objective, you lose purpose, you lose passion.”

AJC Her+Story is a new series in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution highlighting women founders, creators, executives and professionals. It is about building a community. Know someone the AJC should feature in AJC Her+Story? Email us at herstory@ajc.com with your suggestions. Check out all of our AJC Her+Story coverage at ajc.com/herstory.