In August of 1920, women achieved the right to vote.

The 19th Amendment serves as a historic milestone in our nations history. Women suffragists fought to have our voices heard: to be treated as equal to men under the law. Truthfully though, it was a hard battle. It took us nearly 100 years to gain women’s suffrage, and we fought every step of the way. World War I and the abolitionist movement slowed their campaign’s message, but at the end we still won.

It is now November of 2016, and nearly 100 years later we are on the precipice of achieving another milestone—electing our first woman president. Having the chance to have the first woman in the White House means ratifying our suffragists vision for our future. Ensuring that this woman be our commander-in-chief means ensuring our vision for a brighter America, for ourselves and generations to come.

Just like the woman suffragists who fought for our rights, so did Hillary all through her life. When she spoke at the United Nation’s Fourth Women’s Conference in Beijing, China, she spoke out on the atrocities of China’s dowry deaths and their one-child policy, which favored boys to be born over girls. “Women’s rights are human’s rights” championed the movement for China and other countries in attendance to take notice, and to change their abuse on babies born as girls once and for all.

I trust Hillary because she consistently backs up her sentiments through action.

Time and time again, Hillary has fought and took action for our rights as women, the rights of our children, and the rights for each American to be treated equally under the law. As a Senator, Hillary worked to strengthen the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, introducing multiple bills that increased health coverage for children in low income and working families that she helped create as First Lady. Now, more than eight million children have their health covered; what would it mean to have your child, your niece, and your granddaughter in need, covered?

She took her position as First Lady seriously. Just like her previous positions, she took steps to make sure our rights as mothers were established and protected. As first lady, she was a powerful advocate for the Family and Medical Leave Act, which required companies to offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave to parents and caregivers.

These are just some of the achievements that make Hillary who she is, and shape her feminist ideology that strengthen us all. As one article notes, “Her efforts to support women’s rights domestically and globally are no ancillary concern: They are intrinsically tied to the core of the work she does.”

So, in a few hours, I will be voting for the first time and casting my vote for the first female president—Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I am proud to call her my hero, my role model, and the kind of woman I hope to be throughout my life. Dedicated, strong, and a champion for the disenfranchised. She has told us what she hopes to do as president, and has proven that she can get those things accomplished just as she has done throughout her whole career.

I’m fighting for Hillary, rallying up everyone I know about what I believe. And ensuring we get out and vote for this remarkable woman. Not just because she is a woman, but because she is this woman, this woman who would surely make our forefathers—or our foremothers—like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, proud.

For feminists, women, and children everywhere—will you vote and be a part of history?

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Author: Mariam Yavari

Image: Wikimedia Commons 

Editor: Sara Kärpänen