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Philadelphia Groups Working on 2020 Celebration of Women's Suffrage in America

By Pat Loeb

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --  Hoping to make Philadelphia the epicenter of the nation's centennial celebration of women's right to vote, organizers announced their plans today -- seven years before the anniversary.

The women's advocacy group Vision 2020 is spearheading the celebration, and co-chair Lynn Yeakel says it really will take seven years.

"We will be working with places where they plan their programming years ahead," she told a gathering today at the National Constitution Center.  "There will be a lot of things that will require a lot of lead time."

Yeakel says there's no budget yet and the events are still just ideas -- including a science and technology fair, a picnic on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, forums, debates, and an exhibit at the Constitution Center.

Yeakel's co-chair, Rosemarie Greco, says the events will both celebrate history and focus on what she called "the unfinished agenda" of women's equality.

"We hold, as women, only 18 percent of top leadership positions across professions," she notes.

Greco says the group will also be working on increasing that number over the next seven years.

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