Matluba Eshonkulova | Managing Editor | The Chronicle
On November 3, Dr. Amy Acton was elected as Ohio’s first female governor. The first female elected governor in the United States (U.S.) took office in 1925, more than a century ago. Yet here we are in 2026, celebrating that same milestone in Ohio.
I was born into a world where women could vote, attend universities, pursue careers, run businesses and hold positions of leadership. These opportunities have always been part of the world I know.
I started to understand just how much women had fought for these opportunities when I took AP U.S. History as a sophomore. Learning about the roles women were expected to fill throughout different periods of American history and everything it took to challenge those expectations made me see our world as less advanced. So much of what we consider ordinary today was once something women had to fight and make sacrifices for. It made me realize that this history is not nearly as distant as I had made it out to be.
What is even stranger to think about is how easily those struggles could eventually fade from our collective memories. As societal norms change and opportunities continue to expand, future generations may grow up with even fewer reasons to question the privileges they experience. The things that once required decades of advocacy and protest could become so ordinary that people forget that they were ever contested in the first place.
That is exactly why milestones like Acton’s election matter. It’s not just about a woman finally reaching a previously unreachable position; it’s also a chance to recognize the progress that brought us here. At the same time, we should not confuse a first with a finish. Electing a female governor does not mean gender inequality has disappeared or that the fight for equal opportunities is over. If anything, it should encourage future generations of women to keep pursuing positions and opportunities that were once out of reach.
I am happy to live in a world where so many opportunities are available to women. But I also recognize that the world I was born into didn’t simply just happen. It was built and shaped by generations of people who challenged what society considered permanent.
That is what makes milestones like this worth recognizing. We should celebrate how far we have come without forgetting what was sacrificed to be here. The opportunities women have today weren’t always guaranteed and what future generations will have aren’t guaranteed either. Progress is worth celebrating, but it’s also worth continuing.
