It’s Time For Another Women’s Movement, And Passing The ERA Can Kick It Off

When I was a little girl, my mother wore an ERA button. It sounds like we need to get them out of the drawer again.

ERA, in case you don’t know, stands for the Equal Rights Amendment. It was an amendment to the Constitution, passed by Congress in 1972, that said simply,

“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

After Congressional approval, it needed the support of 38 state legislatures in order to be added to the Constitution. It only got 35 before a 1982 deadline, and the ERA became largely forgotten. (You can see a list of states and their votes here.)

But, its proponents argue that the 1982 deadline wasn’t set in stone, and there have been renewed efforts in recent years to pass the ERA. In March, Nevada became the 36th state to ratify it, which means it only needs two more states.

For your reference, the state legislatures of Arizona, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia, all have ERA bills that could be taken up.

Approval of the ERA might be a way to acknowledge the enormous anger of women across the United States, and across the many professions where sexual misconduct has been in the…