Note: This column by Rep. Annette Glenn originally appeared in the Midland Daily News.

This Monday, Aug. 26th, I’ll have the honor of hosting an event that’s been 99 years in the making, where women elected to leadership positions in Midland County will recognize the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – the transformational reform that gave women the right to vote.

The 19th Amendment was certified on Aug. 26, 1920, and on Nov. 2nd of that year, millions of women across the U.S. voted in elections for the first time.

This monumental change opened doors for women and improved America in ways that couldn’t have been imagined a century ago.

Each successive generation has been blessed with more women in public service. That will be on full display Monday, as I’m joined by other women elected to positions of public leadership in Midland County — including county Commissioner Jeanette Snyder, county Treasurer Cathy Lunsford, Village of Sanford President Dolores Porte, and Larkin Township Supervisor Maria Sandow.

The event – at 7 p.m. Monday at the Midland County Historical Society – will feature a panel discussion focused on the leadership roles women play in state and local government, along with the successes and challenges of these roles.

As I prepare my thoughts, I’m mindful of the work and sacrifices from previous generations to make the 19th Amendment a reality, and how different my life – and all of the United States – would be without it.

Much of my adult life has revolved around public service.  I served as College Republican chair at my university and statewide, as county Republican chair at age 23, and attended the 1984 Republican National Convention that nominated President Reagan for his second term. I learned from serving on staff with the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington and with Sen. Bob Dole’s presidential campaign. I’ve been involved in public service at virtually every level of state and national government.

It’s also been my privilege to serve in leadership positions in church, Scouting, and other local charitable and youth organizations.

Every step of the way, I knew I was part of a movement that began long before me and will continue long after I’m gone.

Last year, I was honored to become the first woman ever elected to represent the city of Midland in the Michigan House of Representatives — one of 53 women now serving in our state Legislature, a record high. As a member of the influential House Appropriations Committee, I serve as vice-chair of two Appropriations subcommittees — Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, and Natural Resources and Environmental Quality – and as a member of subcommittees on Health and Human Services and School Aid and Department of Education.

But my example is far from the most impressive in our community. Given the caliber of women who serve in elected, charitable, civic, and community leadership positions, it’s unthinkable there was ever a time when such talent was unutilized, and women weren’t able to exercise even the most fundamental freedom and responsibility: the right to vote.

In full expression of that right, nationally and locally, no one person or organization speaks for all women or for the diversity of views held by women in our community — conservative, liberal, or middle of the road.

But surely, at least one day each year, we can put differences aside to recognize and celebrate the fact that our views, even when we disagree, have equal standing in the outcome of every public policy decision of the day. Imagine how just knowing that must have felt, the first time, when it was fresh and new for our grandmothers or great grandmothers only a century ago.

And may I suggest that in Michigan, where the top three positions in state government are now held by women, no one dare still burden our daughters and granddaughters with any sense of “victimhood,” or teach them there are limits to what they can achieve with hard work, integrity, and passion for the world around them.

Where do we go from here? What even wider doors will open for our daughters and granddaughters as they grow up and put their own stamp on their communities, state, and nation?

Whatever the future holds, I know they will have options that could scarcely be dreamt of by women just 99 years ago. All of us – women and men – are better off because of it.

Come see living proof, Monday night at the Historical Society in Midland.

(State Rep. Annette Glenn represents the 98^th District in the Michigan House of Representatives.)