The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) passed through Congress in 1972 with more than the required 2/3 majority vote and was sent to the states. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th, and final, state to ratify the amendment, but it is still not part of the US Constitution.

A new resolution has been introduced in the US House affirming that the amendment has met all of the requirements needed to be added to the US Constitution. Tell your representative that you want equality to be part of the Constitution.

The new resolution, H. Res. 891, introduced by Congresswomen Jackie Speier and Carolyn Maloney, will reflect the sentiment of the House that, under the terms of Article V, the ERA is already part of the Constitution, and will ensure it became effective on January 27th, 2022. Amendments have a two-year waiting period before they are finally published by the Archivist in the Constitution, yet two years after the final ratification, the Constitution remains unchanged. Support and passage of this resolution will mean that the archivist knows that they have the support of Congress to move forward. And it responds to the Biden Administration’s insistence that Congress has the right to assert that the amendment can be published.

The ERA is essential to ensure equality is solidified in the Constitution. Despite the significant legal and legislative advances that have been made in recent decades, women continue to face discrimination on the basis of sex. The symptoms of this systemic discrimination are clear in the ongoing fights against unequal pay, workplace harassment, pregnancy discrimination, domestic violence, and limited access to comprehensive health care. It is not enough to treat the symptoms; we must address the root cause of the inequality by amending the Constitution.

The inclusion of the Equal Rights Amendment in the US Constitution is long overdue. Please contact your representative today and tell them to assert that the ERA should be the law of the land!