WASHINGTON — The Equal Rights Amendment, or ERA, was first proposed in the 1920s as a continued push from the suffragette movement to get women the right to vote.
The wording of the amendment says: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
This is meant to replace the male-centric wording of our constitution so that men and women have to be seen without distinction in the eyes of the law.
If you are surprised to hear that this isn’t already part of the law… you’re not alone. Many people believe that this is covered in the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment or by the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote.
However, the 14th amendment didn’t say anything about sex, and the 19th only gave women the right to vote.
Freshman Congresswoman, Jennifer Wexton from Virginia has been pushing for this legislation for years. "We have a lot of folks on the Supreme Court who are strict originalists and they say, if it ain’t in there, it ain’t in there," she explained.
So then why ain’t it in there after nearly 100 years? Glad you asked.
Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative anti-feminist activist was staunchly against the ERA. She campaigned for traditional gender roles and warned that the ERA would allow women to be drafted into the military to fight in future wars.
"Well now women serve in the military and there is no draft," Wexton said. So it's not something women have to worry about anymore.
To be clear, we can’t put all of the blame on Phyllis, she’s gone now. She was followed by other anti-feminists who worried that women would lose legal protections.
In the 50s there was something called the Hayden Rider attached to the amendment to address their concerns. It stated that legal protections specific to women would still be legal. But even with that addition, the ERA still didn’t pass.
It wasn’t until March 22, 1972, that the ERA was passed through the house and the senate. The next step was to get the amendment ratified by 38 states. Between 1972 and 1977, 35 states stepped to the plate.
Just 3 states are short of the 3 fourths needed to become the law of the land.
That’s when the ball stopped rolling.
The legislation sat, waiting to be ratified, in statehouses across the country for the next 40 years.
Wasn’t there a deadline?
Yup, but Congress kept extending it.
It was in 2017 that the bill started showing signs of life again. Nevada became the 36th state to ratify it and then in 2018 Illinois became the 37th.
It is was looking like we only needed one more state to ratify, but then five states said they wanted to rescind their ratification of the amendment.
So what now?
"The existing precedent says no backsies," Wexton explained. "You‘re not allowed to rescind your previous approval."
Phew! Now only one more state is needed, and it's looking like it will be Virginia.
"For Virginia to be the historic 38th state would be enormous," the congresswoman from Virginia added. "Especially serving now with the historic number of women in congress and the historic number of women elected to the general assembly in these 2019 elections. It would really send a message to the rest of the country."