Washington : US President Barack Obama is designating a historic house in Washington as a monument honouring the movement for women’s equality in the country.
The White House said the move on Tuesday will help preserve an archive documenting the “history, strategies, tactics and other accomplishments” of the movement to achieve voting and equal rights for women in the United States and elsewhere in the world, the Voice of America reported.
The site will be called the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument.
The name honours activist and suffragist Alva Belmont, a former president of the National Woman’s Party that fought for equality, as well as party founder Alice Paul.
It is located at what had been known as the Sewall-Belmont House, which the National Woman’s Party began using as its headquarters in 1929.
The main house there dates back to 1800 and sits next to a Senate office building and is one block from the US Supreme Court.
Inside are items such as the desk of women’s suffrage icon Susan B. Anthony and a banner used during the first protests demanding that women be allowed to vote.
Women finally earned that right in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.
The monument’s designation comes on the same day that women’s rights activists observe Equal Pay Day to call attention to persistent wage gaps between men and women.