When I joined Sonia Johnson and five other women in 1982 for a public fast for the Equal Rights Amendment, I never thought I would be writing about it today, working for its passage today, explaining, on a daily basis, that it did not pass. To the dozens (not hundreds) of us who are dedicated to constitutional equality it is vexing to hear, "Oh, I thought that passed years ago." We have watched presidents, platforms, organizations come and go on the subject but every time we read that a woman is faced with higher health insurance premiums, boys and girls are not given equal opportunities, and our country is 69th in the world in women in leadership; we know the work is not over -- it did not pass.
The ERA - Still Not a Reality
I try to not shout it or shame people. Some believe that the phrase, "Congress passed it," means it was done but it actually means that Congress sent it to the states for ratification. The majority of Americans live in states which did ratify, thirty-five in fact. If you do live in one of those states, you should know that we have not been able to get the required additional three in over 32 years. No state has ratified since Indiana in 1977. For the most part it is predictably conservative, mostly Southern, states holding up the nation.
Originally written by Alice Paul, famous for her civil disobedience and jail time to achieve the vote in 1919, the Equal Rights Amendment has had several iterations; landing on the 1948 edition.
- Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of sex.
- Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
- Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
The significant and defining fact is that the passage of this amendment was given a deadline and an extension. Within those 10.5 years, celebrities, marches, fasts, lobbyists, met with failure emboldened by the insurance industry, male privilege and the famous women in red -- led by Phyllis Schlafly. On June 30, 1982 thousands of women and a few men shouted, "We will remember in November," but November came and left and so did interest in the ERA.
Possible Legal Challenges
In this century work has continued in the non-ratified states and Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) and Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) have re-introduced the ERA several times, even though the deadline has lapsed. The assumption is that should the magic number of 38 ratify, the deadline would be legally challenged. There is some confidence on this as current 27th Amendment took a full 203 years to pass which begs the question -- yes, the ERA deadline was standard. Today there are people working on getting the deadline revoked entirely.
The WEA - A New National Movement
Several sessions ago, to insulate from the possible challenge with the deadline and to begin a whole new national movement, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) began introducing the Women's Equality Amendment; WEA. This version is the identical 54 words. This version has no deadline. And this version starts from zero. The thinking is that it would inspire a national campaign about constitutional equality and 38 states would line up like dominos. Also to our advantage, several of the albatross bandied about by Ms. Schlafly and others seem to found their own legs; such as the health insurance industry, reproductive justice and gay marriage.
Similarities and Differences
To summarize, for the last decade, there were two amendments; the ERA and the WEA: strategy shorthand; Start-Over and Three-State. So why is the ERA in the news this last week? Even the question makes me a bit unhinged. To me the ERA is always in the news; though you already know my radar is set to those particular call letters; ERA. I have an ERA search set on both google and ebay. But this week was really extraordinarily special.
Reintroducing Equality
I went to bed on Monday, July 20, 2009, thrilled that Rep. Maloney would do as she had done before, introduce the WEA. There was a press release from NY State NOW and I had written about it, corrected others about it, dreamt about it. On Monday, July 20, 2009 the ERA was looking for sponsor, as Sen. Ted Kennedy has been very seriously ill. And all the time, ERA devotees have been working in the state legislatures in LA, FL, IL, KS, MO, OK et al. hoping to land those precious three states.
I woke up on Tuesday, July 21, 2009, PDT in a crazy jumble puzzle; Rep. Carolyn Maloney introduced the same 54 words, no deadline, Start-Over Strategy and called it the Equal Rights Amendment.
Where does that leave us?
Women Still Not in the Constitution
It leaves us with two strategies with the same title, with the title WEA no longer relevant, in need of a sponsor for the Three-State Strategy and, most importantly, women still not in the U. S. Constitution.
So in one way, what a difference a day makes and, in another, don't you think 86 years is long enough?
