About the Equal Rights Amendment and why it's important:
When the 14th amendment passed in 1868, non-white and non-male Americans believed they had won equal rights for all. It soon became clear they had not, and the 15th amendment was passed in 1870, allowing non-white males to vote. This understandably outraged countless women, one of the most noteable being Susan B. Anthony. In 1872 she illegally cast a presidential ballot. She was arrested and fined. Three years later a judge ruled that staes were not required to allow women to vote. She and Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked to procure the right of women to vote until their deaths, never seeing the fruits of their labor. The National Woman Sufferage Association and the National Women's party finally spread enough awareness to get the 19th amendment passed and sent to the states for ratification in 1919. Amendments can be voted for by Congress, but 38 states have to ratify an amendment before it can be added to the constitution. The 19th amendment had serious opposition, yet it made it into the constitution on August 26th, 1920. Unfortunately, while the right to vote was a huge victory, it did not give women rights [equal to those of men].
In the year 1923, a woman by the name of Alice Paul wrote the first draft of the Equal Rights Movement which read, "Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction." In 1943 she edited it to read, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." so that the wording would be similar to that of the 15th and 19th amendments. Finally in 1972, Congress passed the proposed 27th amendment and sent it to the states. Unfortunately this amendment recieved even more opposition that the 19th amendment had. Reform groups who had worked to give women special treatment in the workplace were afraid of women having true equality, Conservatives were scared of women having power, Anti-ERA groups were afraid that women would lose the right to be supported by her husband (Ironically, dependency on one's husband is a reason so many women stay trapped in abusive realtionships), privacy rights would be overturned, women would be sent into combat, and abortion rights and homosexual marriages would be upheld (Also ironic that they were concerned with privacy issues when the right to terminate a pregnancy is a privacy issue). Quite a few businesses and fundamentalist religious groups joined the anti-ERA bandwagon as well.
The Equal Rights Amendment had seven years to get ratified. It recieved 22 ratifications in the first year, but only eight the next year, and it continued to dwindle with only three the third year and one the fourth year. The amendment recieved no ratifications in the fifth year. In 1977, Indiana ratified the amendment, making the total number of ratifications 35. Unfortunately an amendment needs 38 ratifications.
The National Organization for Women convinced Congress to extend the deadline for ratification until 1982. It was all for naught however, because no other states ratified it. Itwas re-introduced into Congress in 1982, and has been just sitting there basically. There is hope yet, the actual 27th amendment concerning congressional salaries took 203 years to be ratified. The Congressional Research Service has agreed that since the 27th ["Madison"] amendment was written into the constitution after a couple of hundred years, the ERA can be written in without starting all over. In other words, The ERA still only needs three states to ratify it.
PS- Many polls in the 1970s showed greater support for the ERA among males than among females. Could it be, men are adversely affected by sexism too? The devil you say! (lol)
When the 14th amendment passed in 1868, non-white and non-male Americans believed they had won equal rights for all. It soon became clear they had not, and the 15th amendment was passed in 1870, allowing non-white males to vote. This understandably outraged countless women, one of the most noteable being Susan B. Anthony. In 1872 she illegally cast a presidential ballot. She was arrested and fined. Three years later a judge ruled that staes were not required to allow women to vote. She and Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked to procure the right of women to vote until their deaths, never seeing the fruits of their labor. The National Woman Sufferage Association and the National Women's party finally spread enough awareness to get the 19th amendment passed and sent to the states for ratification in 1919. Amendments can be voted for by Congress, but 38 states have to ratify an amendment before it can be added to the constitution. The 19th amendment had serious opposition, yet it made it into the constitution on August 26th, 1920. Unfortunately, while the right to vote was a huge victory, it did not give women rights [equal to those of men].
In the year 1923, a woman by the name of Alice Paul wrote the first draft of the Equal Rights Movement which read, "Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction." In 1943 she edited it to read, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." so that the wording would be similar to that of the 15th and 19th amendments. Finally in 1972, Congress passed the proposed 27th amendment and sent it to the states. Unfortunately this amendment recieved even more opposition that the 19th amendment had. Reform groups who had worked to give women special treatment in the workplace were afraid of women having true equality, Conservatives were scared of women having power, Anti-ERA groups were afraid that women would lose the right to be supported by her husband (Ironically, dependency on one's husband is a reason so many women stay trapped in abusive realtionships), privacy rights would be overturned, women would be sent into combat, and abortion rights and homosexual marriages would be upheld (Also ironic that they were concerned with privacy issues when the right to terminate a pregnancy is a privacy issue). Quite a few businesses and fundamentalist religious groups joined the anti-ERA bandwagon as well.
The Equal Rights Amendment had seven years to get ratified. It recieved 22 ratifications in the first year, but only eight the next year, and it continued to dwindle with only three the third year and one the fourth year. The amendment recieved no ratifications in the fifth year. In 1977, Indiana ratified the amendment, making the total number of ratifications 35. Unfortunately an amendment needs 38 ratifications.
The National Organization for Women convinced Congress to extend the deadline for ratification until 1982. It was all for naught however, because no other states ratified it. Itwas re-introduced into Congress in 1982, and has been just sitting there basically. There is hope yet, the actual 27th amendment concerning congressional salaries took 203 years to be ratified. The Congressional Research Service has agreed that since the 27th ["Madison"] amendment was written into the constitution after a couple of hundred years, the ERA can be written in without starting all over. In other words, The ERA still only needs three states to ratify it.
PS- Many polls in the 1970s showed greater support for the ERA among males than among females. Could it be, men are adversely affected by sexism too? The devil you say! (lol)
