Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
JOIN OUR ERA LEAGUE ACTION TEAM
Education and advocacy related to the Equal Rights Amendment.
sherrybmacqueen [at] gmail.com (Join Us) ERA in the News
WE'RE SO CLOSE – LET’S PUT WOMEN
IN THE CONSTITUTION
It takes 3/4 of U.S. states to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In January 2020, Virginia became the 38th and final state needed to make the ERA the law of the land.
Challenges came immediately. The current administration advised the Archivist of the U.S. to hold up the process because of a deadline Congress had imposed in the 1980s. But our lawyers insist that what Congress can put-eth in an amendment, Congress can taketh away – hence our current fight to “remove the deadline.” The U.S. House has done so. Now we’re working to persuade the Senate to do the same. Forty-eight senators support Senate Joint Resolution 6 – a joint resolution removing the deadline for the ratification of the ERA. We need more.
LWVUS Grant - Just in Time!
While we work to persuade the Senate to drop the deadline, we’re also urging our own North Carolina legislature to finally ratify the ERA. We got a big boost from LWVUS when they awarded $5,000 grants to several unratified state Leagues for communications, including LWVNC.
Our ERA-LAT campaign features proud, caring dads talking about their daughters’ need for equal protection under the law. Postcards were mailed to 5,000 NC voters and are being used on social media.
LWV of Charlotte-Mecklenburg pitched in with a great idea, soliciting friends to post dad-and-daughter photos on social media. Start digging through your photos now and join the campaign using the hashtags #DadsforEquality and #RatifyERA.
WE SAY WE BELIEVE IN EQUALITY…
... And we must prove it and live it. Whether discrimination is based on gender, race, religion, or ethnicity, it’s up to us as citizens of the United States to put into action the ideals to which we lay claim.
Nevada State Sen. Pat Spearman, whose impassioned speech persuaded Nevada to ratify the ERA, has a wonderful way of speaking about opponents of equality. Spearman is sure that champions of fairness will win over naysayers because "there’s not enough bad in them and ain’t enough quit in us.”
Some Common Questions about the ERA:
Why do we need an Equal Rights Amendment?
Because women’s equality is not guaranteed by the Constitution.
Aren’t women considered equal under the 14th Amendment?
No. If they were, we wouldn’t have needed the 19th to let women vote!
What about the deadline set back in the 1970s?
Deadline was never part of the amendment. It was a "whereas," and whereases are non-operative in bills.
Originalists say if women were to be equal, Constitution would have said so.
Our founders saw that things change over time. Quite brilliantly, they made provision for amending the Constitution when ¾ of states agree. 38 states (¾) have ratified ERA.
ERA = more abortions?
No. The ERA has nothing to do with abortion. Just ask the pro-life Republican who was instrumental in getting the ERA ratified in Illinois—Representative Steven Andersson, steve [at] stevemail.com. See Rep. Andersson’s incredible endorsement of ERA given at the ERA-NC Alliance Annual Meeting. LWVNC is a lead org of the Alliance.
In the News
COVID-19, Human Rights, Women's Rights, and the ERA
Links
Support the work of these ERA Champions:
- Alice Paul Institute
- ERA Coalition
- Equal Rights Amendment
- Equal Means Equal
- ERA Coalition Common Legal Questions
- ERA-NC Alliance
- ERA-NC Alliance Response to Arguments Against the Equal Rights Amendment
- 2018 Economic Status of Women in North Carolina Report
FAQs
Talking Points
