A Century In the Making

A century in the making: maybe it’s time for women to finally make our way to the ‘end of the row.’

On August 26th we celebrated Women’s Equality Day and marked 99 years since the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting white women the right to vote. 

Alice Paul was a leading voice and strategist behind the 19th Amendment, but she knew that gaining the right to vote was just the beginning of a long, hard fight for gender equality. 

The ‘end of the row’ for Alice (and for many activists continuing to follow her lead) is an amendment to the consitiution that would guarantee legal equal rights for all America citizens regardless of sex -  the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."   - Section 1, Equal Rights Amendment

First introduced to Congress in 1923, and reintroduced every year thereafter, the ERA was finally passed by the U.S. Senate and then the House of Representatives on March 22, 1972.

The proposed 27th Amendment to the Constitution was then sent to the states for ratification, and that’s when things really got hairy.

While it flew through state legislatures early on (by 1977, 35 states had ratified the Amendment), anti-ERA groups began to organize and slowed down the ratification process and forced an arbitrary deadline of June 30th, 1982. The Amendment was stalled, as it fell short just three of the necessary 38 states.

Where is the ERA today?

Some 80% of us already believe that women have equal rights under the constitution. Today women have the right to own property, apply for a credit card, serve on a jury, they have the right to work, the right to an education, the right to participate in sports. 

But, here’s the kicker...these rights have all been made possible through policies and legislation, all of which could be REPEALED with a majority vote in Congress. The ERA would guarantee constitutionally protected, legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. 

That kind of permanent, hard-core, no wiggle for interpretation, type of language in the constitution is the stuff that can’t be stripped away lightly or misinterpreted. And it is the kind of federal protection that would require states to intervene in cases of gender violence, such as domestic violence and sexual harassment; it would guard against pregnancy and motherhood discrimination in the workplace, and it would federally guarantee equal pay.

Right now the only explicitly stated right in the Constitution granted to women is the right to vote. We’re thinking Alice would want us to use it to plow forward.

Plow it FORWARD…

It has been almost four decades since the 1982 deadline passed without the necessary 38 states, but new energy and a coalition of strong social movements have given the ERA new momentum. 

Nevada ratified the ERA in 2017 and Illinois followed suit in March of 2018. If you’re doing the math that this means the amendment needs ONE MORE STATE for full ratification.

There are two bills in Congress right now to eliminate the 1982 deadline, and while a few states have moved to rescind earlier ratifications, because no other amendment has allowed for a flip flop of this kind, if a 38th state can ratify the ERA, we may finally reach the end of the row - and guarantee equal legal rights to women under the U.S. constitution.

So, if you only have time to do ONE thing today...

Channel you inner-Alice Paul and let’s get this thing done!

Tell Congress to pass those two bills that would eliminate the previously imposed ERA deadline of 1982. 

1) Rep. Jackie Speier's bill (H.J. Res. 38) and 

2) Senator Ben Cardin's bill (S.J. Res 6)

Let Congress know there should be #NoDeadlineForEquality!

Or, if you happen to live in one of the 13 states that has yet to ratify the ERA, there are organized efforts in almost all of them working to make this long-awaited wrong ...a right. Go get ‘em girlfriend!

Let’s keep talking...

Thanks for taking a minute to read through girltalk#2! 

We’ll be back again soon with another take on something we think you might care about. Our goal with every girltalk is to inspire, inform, and link you to resources and tools that you can use to weigh in, have an impact and create the change you want to see.

In the meantime, if all you do this week is sport a great tee with a big message ...and donate to a good cause, that works too!

You know where to go ...ivotelikeagirl.com

Talk again soon,

Kim and Allie