The Equal Rights Amendment Comes Back!

In January, Virginia became the pivotal 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment after its Senate and House of Delegates voted to approve the change to the U.S. Constitution. This makes up the required number of states (3/4) needed for ratifying this amendment. So why isn’t the ERA on track to be ratified and to become the 27th constitutional amendment?

ERA Author,Alice Paul, Toasts Passage of 1920 Vote for Women

In February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to extend the deadline for the ERA. It was supposed to be ratified by the states by 1982; however, constitutional amendments typically do not have such deadlines. Currently it is stuck in the Senate, languishing in committee.

 What is the Equal Rights Amendment? “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” These twenty-four words seem straightforward and logical. How could anyone disagree that women should not be equal to men?

Contrary to the opinion held by some, women are not guaranteed equality in the US Constitution. If women did have equality, it would give impetus to the fight for reproductive rights, equal pay for equal work, paid maternity leave, and many other struggles.

This is a long and complicated story. To make it simple, and hopefully not to omit any important facts in the timeline of the ERA, I will give a brief herstory.

In 1923 Alice Paul, who founded the National Women’s Party, which had pushed for women’s suffrage in 1920, introduced the ERA. The amendment was introduced in Congress every year until it was finally passed in 1972, introduced by Indiana Senator, Birch Bayh. Bayh also sponsored Title IX, which gave equality to girls’ sports in schools. Bayh also sponsored the amendment to the constitution that gave 18-year-olds the right to vote in national and state elections. He tried to get legislation passed to abolish the Electoral College, as well.

Bayh  & King at 2012 Celebration of 40 years of Title IX

Billie Jean King, tennis icon, who stood for women gaining equal salaries and status in tennis, and who defeated Bobbie Riggs in the “Match of the Sexes” in 1973, said of Bayh on hearing of his death in 2019, “Sen. Birch Bayh was one of the most important Americans of the 20th century… you simply cannot look at the evolution of equality in our nation without acknowledging the contributions Sen. Bayh made to securing equal rights and opportunities for every American….”

Thirty-five states had ratified the ERA by the 1982 deadline. The progress of these ratifications was slowed by the organizing against its passage by conservative, Phyllis Schlafly. One wonders why Schlafly was able to create such a huge backlash, which stalled the passage of the amendment. She argued that passing the ERA would mean that women and men would have to share the same bathrooms, women would have to go to the military, and their husbands could sue women for alimony. None of these issues would seem to be significant or even valid in the light of women achieving social equality with men. They represent a desperate clinging to the status quo in which women have our “place.” At least for some women, adhering to traditional, though subordinate sex roles probably felt safe. Fighting for equality with men was unknown and challenging, and considered “unladylike.”    

 Alda Testifies before Congress for ERA

 In 2017 Nevada ratified the ERA, followed by Illinois in 2018, and in January of this year, Virginia became the 38^th and last state needed to ratify the amendment.

Since the House of Representatives voted to suspend the time limit for ratification, it only remains for the Senate to follow suit. The task seems to be to lobby senators to bring it out of the Justice Committee where it is stuck at present.

Call your Senator in Congress and tell her/him to get  the “S.J. Resolution 6- A joint resolution removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment”, out of committee, and put it up for a vote in the Senate..

We are almost there. This is the 100-year anniversary of women’s suffrage this year, 2020. Let’s celebrate by passing the Equal Rights Amendment, which is nearly 100 years old itself. We can do this for the equality and welfare of all people. Women’s rights are human rights..