United States of America

One hundred years ago - on 4 June 1919 - Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the US constitution guaranteeing the right of American women to vote.

The amendment was the product of decades of campaigning and slow progress since the first convention for women's rights was held in Seneca Falls in 1848.

She didn’t plan to say it. Yvanna Cancela, a newly elected Democrat in the Nevada Senate, didn’t want to “sound crass.” But when a Republican colleague defended a century-old law requiring doctors to ask women seeking abortions whether they’re married, Cancela couldn’t help firing back.

“A man is not asked his marital status before he gets a vasectomy,” she countered — and the packed hearing room fell silent.

For Senator Elizabeth Warren, the moment brought up memories of “back alley butchers” and “desperate women.” Senator Kamala Harris compared it to “a scene from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’” And Senator Kirsten Gillibrand warned about a “war on women,” calling for Americans to “fight like hell.”

RESTON, Iowa — Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York had a request: Before anyone mocked her claim that she was the Democratic presidential candidate best positioned to take on President Trump, at least listen to the evidence.