The ERA: Continuing the Fight to Achieve Human Rights for All
E Ju Ro and Sung Sohn
July 10, 2024
Introduction
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that, if ratified, would explicitly prohibit sex-based discrimination. The roots of the ERA movement grew from early efforts to advance feminist ideals and equal human rights for all; in the U.S., the fight to realize those ideals has lasted more than a century. Although at times discrimination, especially based on race, has divided the movement and disrupted solidarity among social reformers and abolitionists, their common goal of securing equal rights for all Americans enabled the successful ratification of the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The next step in continuing the fight is to finally ratify the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Examining different periods before and after wars in which the U.S. was involved domestically and overseas, this brief discusses the historical context of grassroots movements for equal rights that played a critical role in passing the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments, challenges seen in the early suffrage and ERA movements, and the significance of adopting the ERA as the next major step to provide equal rights for all Americans against all forms of discrimination.
I. Timeline and Historical Context
1. From 19th century to early 20th century: Groundwork Leading to Development of the ERA
Leading American suffragists, including the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), formed the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Legal Citizenship in 1902, which became a coalition of suffrage organizations. Its name changed a few times, from the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) in 1904 to the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship in 1926, before finally becoming the International Alliance of Women (IAW) with the subtitle Equal Rights—Equal Responsibilities in 1946. Since then, the alliance’s mission has shifted from suffrage to promoting women’s human rights, equality, and empowerment. IAW marked its 120th anniversary in 2024. What began as an organization focused on suffrage, IAW’s mission later shifted to promoting women’s human rights, equality, and empowerment.
2. The 1940s to 1960s: The Civil Rights Movement and U.S. Involvement in WWII and the Korean War
3. 1960s to Today: Continuing the fight for the ERA
The common core message of the suffrage and the ERA movements calls for Americans to have the freedom of exercising equal, fundamental human rights without all forms of discrimination. Since the beginning of the suffrage movement through to the ERA movement, discriminations based on race, gender, and socio-economic status, in particular, were challenges to overcome. The lessons learned through these movements are critical and must be adhered to should we move onward and forward.
When the 15th Amendment was passed in 1870, speaking on her regret that women’s voting rights were not secured first, women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony told Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass: “If you will not give the whole loaf of justice to the entire people, it should be given to the most intelligent and capable portion of [educated white] women first.”[13] Noticing tensions between race and gender, at the National Woman’s Rights Convention in 1886, Black American abolitionist, suffragist, and poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper said, “We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving a curse in its own soul.” At the 1869 American Equal Rights Association meeting, Watkins Harper noted, “When it was a question of race, I let the lesser question of sex go. But the white women all go for sex, letting race occupy a minor position.”
Despite the passage of the 15th and 19th Amendments, discrimination based on race, gender, and socio-economic status — significant challenges in the early suffrage movement — continued to be a major hurdle in securing voting rights for all Americans until 1965. Beginning with Connecticut, many state governments administered “literacy tests” to unfairly test prospective voters from the 19th century all the way to the 1960s.[14] “Literacy tests” and voter intimidation blocked hundreds of thousands of southern Black women from casting ballots. In some states, poll taxes also impeded voting access for people of all backgrounds. For a woman with no independent income, she could only vote if her husband or father paid the tax (the poll tax was abolished with the passage of the 24th Amendment).[15] Through the mid-20th century, voting, citizenship, and equal rights for several groups were passed — including Indigenous people, Asian Americans, Black people, and those with disabilities — and it seemed that the U.S. was heading in the right direction. However, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby v. Holder, American voting rights are once again under threat. This decision limits the full protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) by eliminating critical protections. Without the full power of the VRA hobbled, states and local governments are free to adopt discriminatory election policies.
During the early ERA movement in the early 20th century, a socio-economic gap among women posed a challenge, as working women in the movement were concerned that the ERA would endanger workplace protection laws, possibly limiting women’s work hours.[16] Today, undermined status and limited representation of women in government have made it difficult for the ERA amendment to make progress through Congress.
III. Significance of the ERA
The Equal Rights Amendment would be the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. If it were to take effect, it would include:
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.[17]
In recent years, alongside women’s rights activism such as the #MeToo movement, there has been a resurgence of support to finally adopt the ERA. The #MeToo movement, a term that was coined by Tarana Burke in 2006, spread widely in 2017 when actress Alyssa Milano urged victims of sexual harassment and assault to post their stories on social media. Advocates and organizations, including the ERA Coalition, have brought the ERA back into public discourse and political agenda. As the 2020 Pew Research Survey found, around 78 percent of Americans favor adding the ERA amendment.[18] ERA Proponents agree that the amendment remains critical to establishing an explicit constitutional basis for the nation’s commitment to gender equality in law.
Opponents of the proposed amendment primarily argue that the 14th Amendment already protects women from discrimination because it guarantees equal protection under the law for all citizens. However, in reality, the 14th Amendment fails to explicitly protect the rights of all citizens without regard to gender, specifically. The 14th Amendment falls very short and cannot be an alternative to the Equal Rights Amendment. There are a number of reasons why the ERA remains necessary and significant.
If passed, the ERA would…
Conclusion
The significance of adding the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is immeasurable. For women of color, the significance of the ERA is even more critical. Although we have made a breakthrough since the passage of the discussed amendments, we have miles to go before securing human rights for all so that legal protection is guaranteed for everyone regardless of race, gender, socio-economic background, and other diverse factors. Without it, marginalized U.S. populations will continue to face discrimination, as is shown through the history of U.S. suffrage; Black women, who led the movements to adopt the 15th and 19th Amendments and the ERA were, in 1965, the last group of U.S. women to gain full voting rights. Fundamental human rights apply to all, and adopting the ERA in the U.S. Constitution is one concrete way to secure and protect the rights of everyone today and tomorrow. As one of the world’s superpowers, the U.S. must no longer delay in setting a global standard in the cause of equality for all. The 1848 Declaration of Rights and Sentiments ends with the statement, “We hope this Convention will be followed by a series of Conventions, embracing every part of the country.” Adopting the ERA does just that.
Sources
Alice Paul Institute. “Equal Rights Amendment.” https://www.alicepaul.org/equal-rights-amendment-2/.
Bill of Rights Institute. “Phyllis Schlafly and the Debate over the Equal Rights Amendment.” https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/phyllis-schlafly-and-the-debate-over-the-equal-rights-amendment.
Center for American Progress. Buchanan, Maggie Jo and Robin Bleiweis. “The Equal Rights Amendment: What You Need to Know.” https://www.americanprogress.org/article/equal-rights-amendment-need-know/.
Connecticut history.org, available at https://connecticuthistory.org/literacy-tests-and-the-right-to-vote/.
The Daily Record. Gaskill, Hannah. “Advocates Keep Pushing for Equal Rights Amendment Amid Debate Over Deadline.” April 4, 2024. https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/04/04/advocates-keep-pushing-for-equal-rights-amendment-amid-debate-over-deadline/.
DePaul Journal for Social Justice. Machalow, Deborah. “The Equal Rights Amendment in the Age of #MeToo.” Vol. 13. No 1 (January 2020). Art. 4, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4511887.
Equal Rights Amendment. “FAQs.” https://www.equalrightsamendment.org/faqs.
Equality Now. “We Need the Equal Rights Amendment.” https://equalitynow.org/we-need-the-equal-rights-amendment/.
Heritage Foundation. Jipping, Thomas. “The ERA Has Just One Purpose Left: Abortion.” https://www.heritage.org/life/commentary/the-era-has-just-one-purpose-left-abortion.
JSTOR Daily. Jackson, Ashawnta. “The Alpha Suffrage Club and Black Women’s Fight for the Vote.” Sept. 8, 2020. https://daily.jstor.org/the-alpha-suffrage-club-and-black-womens-fight-for-the-vote/
The Long 19th Amendment Project Portal. Gidlow, Liette. “1965: From Women’s Suffrage to Women’s Liberations.” https://long19.radcliffe.harvard.edu/teaching/suffrage-syllabus/unit-5/#:~:text=The%20Long%2019th%20Amendment%20Project,grant%20from%20the%20Andrew%20W.
National Archives. Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State (1953). https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/ armistice-agreement-restoration-south-korean-state.
National Constitution Center. Bomboy, Scott. “The vote that led to the 19th Amendment.” Aug. 18, 2023. https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-man-and-his-mom-who-gave-women-the-vote.
National Organization for Women. “Chronology of the Equal Rights Amendment, 1923-1996.” https://now.org/resource/chronology-of-the-equal-rights-amendment-1923-1996/.
National Organization for Women. “Is the Equal Rights Amendment Relevant in the 21st Century?” https://now.org/resource/is-the-equal-rights-amendment-relevant-in-the-21st-century/.
National Park Service. Bailey, Meagan. “Between Two Worlds: Black Women and the Fight for Voting Rights,” available at https://www.nps.gov/articles/black-women-and-the-fight-for-voting-rights.htm#:~:text=During%20the%2019th%20and%2020th,gain%20the%20right%20to%20vote.
National Women’s History Museum.
Pew Research Center. “A Century After Women Gained the Right to Vote, Majority of Americans See Work to Do on Gender Equality.” July 7, 2020. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/07/07/a-century-after-women-gained-the-right-to-vote-majority-of-americans-see-work-to-do-on-gender-equality/.
Time. Waxman, Olivia B. “The Long History of the Equal Rights Amendment.” Aug. 29, 2019. https://time.com/5657997/equal-rights-amendment-history/.
United Nations Command. “Armistice Negotiations.” https://www.unc.mil/History/1951-1953-Armistice-Negotiations/
Voting Rights: A Short History, Carnegie Corporation of New York. https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/voting-rights-timeline/
The Washington Post. Jewell, Hannah Jewell and Grace Raver, “How racism tore apart the early women’s suffrage movement.” Sept. 8, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/gender-identity/how-racism-tore-apart-the-early-womens-suffrage-movement/.
[1] Voting Rights: A Short History, Carnegie Corporation of New York.
[2] A PDF version of the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments is available at the National Women’s History Museum.
[3] Hannah Jewell and Grace Raver, “How racism tore apart the early women’s suffrage movement,” The Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2020.
[4] Ashawnta Jackson, “The Alpha Suffrage Club and Black Women’s Fight for the Vote,” JSTOR Daily, Sept. 8, 2020.
[5] Meagan Bailey, “Between Two Worlds: Black Women and the Fight for Voting Rights,” National Park Service, Sept. 13, 2022.
[6] Scott Bomboy, “The vote that led to the 19th Amendment,” National Constitution Center, Aug. 18, 2023.
[7] Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State (1953), National Archives.
[8] Armistice Negotiations, United Nations Command.
[9] Bill of Rights Institute, “Phyllis Schlafly and the Debate over the Equal Rights Amendment.”
[10] National Organization for Women, “Chronology of the Equal Rights Amendment, 1923-1996.”
[11] Deborah Machalow, “The Equal Rights Amendment in the Age of #MeToo,” DePaul Journal for Social Justice, Vol. 13, no. 1 (January 2020): Art. 4, 2020.
[12] Hannah Gaskill, “Advocates Keep Pushing for Equal Rights Amendment Amid Debate Over Deadline,” The Daily Record, April 4, 2024.
[13] Hannah Jewell and Grace Raver, “How racism tore apart the early women’s suffrage movement,” The Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2020.
[14] Connecticut history.org.
[15] Liette Gidlow, “1965: From Women’s Suffrage to Women’s Liberations,” The Long 19th Amendment Project Portal.
[16] Olivia B. Waxman, “The Long History of the Equal Rights Amendment,” Time Magazine, Aug. 29, 2019.
[17] Equal Rights Amendment, “FAQs.”
[18] Pew Research Center, “A Century After Women Gained the Right to Vote, Majority of Americans See Work to Do on Gender Equality,” July 7, 2020.
[19] Equality Now, “We Need the Equal Rights Amendment.”
[20] National Organization for Women, “Is the Equal Rights Amendment Relevant in the 21st Century?”
[21] Equality Now, “We Need the Equal Rights Amendment.”
[22] Thomas Jipping, “The ERA Has Just One Purpose Left: Abortion,” The Heritage Foundation.
[23] Maggie Jo Buchanan and Robin Bleiweis, “The Equal Rights Amendment: What You Need to Know,” Center for American Progress.
July 10, 2024
Introduction
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that, if ratified, would explicitly prohibit sex-based discrimination. The roots of the ERA movement grew from early efforts to advance feminist ideals and equal human rights for all; in the U.S., the fight to realize those ideals has lasted more than a century. Although at times discrimination, especially based on race, has divided the movement and disrupted solidarity among social reformers and abolitionists, their common goal of securing equal rights for all Americans enabled the successful ratification of the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The next step in continuing the fight is to finally ratify the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Examining different periods before and after wars in which the U.S. was involved domestically and overseas, this brief discusses the historical context of grassroots movements for equal rights that played a critical role in passing the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments, challenges seen in the early suffrage and ERA movements, and the significance of adopting the ERA as the next major step to provide equal rights for all Americans against all forms of discrimination.
I. Timeline and Historical Context
1. From 19th century to early 20th century: Groundwork Leading to Development of the ERA
- 1700s: Voting rights in the U.S. were generally limited to white property holders or ones who passed religious tests.[1]
- 1848: Two white American abolitionists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia, organized a women’s rights convention from July 19–20 in Seneca Falls, NY. The convention participants published a Declaration of Rights and Sentiments based on the Declaration of Independence, which states that “All men are created equal.” The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments demanded basic rights for women, such as religious, educational, property, and voting rights. In its second paragraph, it states, “all men and women are created equal.”[2]
- 1850: The first National Women’s Rights Convention was held in Worcester, MA.
- Civil War (1861–65): During the Civil War, the women’s suffrage movement was put on hold.[3]
- 1865: The 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, was added to the U.S. Constitution.
- 1865: Black Codes, strict local and state laws specifying when, where, and how formerly enslaved people could work, and for how much compensation, were enacted.
- 1868: The 14th Amendment, granting U.S. citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to anyone born in the U.S. or who became a citizen of the country, was added to the U.S. Constitution.
- 1870: The 15th Amendment, granting African American men’s voting rights, was passed.
- 1890: The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was formed, but racism excluded Black women from its membership. Prevented by the NAWSA from attending the convention, Black women often organized separate events, including marching separately from white women in suffrage parades.[4]
- 1893: New Zealand became the first nation in the world to grant women voting rights.
- 1896: The National Association of Colored Women (NACW) was established. Faced with racial and gender discriminations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Black women focused on human rights and universal suffrage.[5]
- 1902: Leading American suffragists founded the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Legal Citizenship at a meeting attended by women from eleven countries, Washington
- 1904: The International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Legal Citizenship was formally constituted under the name International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), Berlin
- 1913: Journalist Ida B. Wells founded the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago for Black women in the suffrage movement.
- 1916: The National Woman’s Party (NWP) was formed to push for women’s voting rights.
- 1914–1918: WWI ended
- 1920: On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was ratified. Tennessee was the last of 36 needed states to officially ratify the amendment. Affected by his mother’s letter received a month prior, Harry T. Burn (R-TN) changed his mind and voted “aye,” breaking the tie in favor of ratifying the amendment.[6]
- 1923: The ERA was first drafted by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman, two leading women’s suffrage rights advocates and NWP members.
- 1924: The Indian Citizenship Act was passed.
- 1926: IWSA was changed to the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship, and a strong link with the League of Nations was established, Paris
- 1946: The International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship was changed to the International Alliance of Women with the subtitle Equal Rights – Equal Responsibilities
Leading American suffragists, including the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), formed the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Legal Citizenship in 1902, which became a coalition of suffrage organizations. Its name changed a few times, from the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) in 1904 to the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship in 1926, before finally becoming the International Alliance of Women (IAW) with the subtitle Equal Rights—Equal Responsibilities in 1946. Since then, the alliance’s mission has shifted from suffrage to promoting women’s human rights, equality, and empowerment. IAW marked its 120th anniversary in 2024. What began as an organization focused on suffrage, IAW’s mission later shifted to promoting women’s human rights, equality, and empowerment.
2. The 1940s to 1960s: The Civil Rights Movement and U.S. Involvement in WWII and the Korean War
- 1940: The U.S. began providing significant military supplies and other assistance to the Allies during World War II.
- 1941: The U.S. entered WWII in December 1941 following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
- 1945: WWII ended. Following Korea’s liberation in 1945, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Harry S. Truman held the Potsdam Conference. As a result, instead of Korea making its own decisions as a sovereign nation, the U.S. began its postwar occupation of the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, while Soviet troops began their own occupation in North Korea.
- 1947: The U.S. announced the Truman Doctrine, marking the beginning of the Cold War.
- 1950–1953: The U.S. became involved in the Korean War (1950–1953), the first Cold War outside of U.S. territory. On July 27, 1953, at Panmunjom, military commanders from the U.S. (representing the UN Command, or UNC), the Korean People’s Army and Chinese People’s Volunteer Army signed the Korean Armistice Agreement, the longest negotiated armistice in history — 158 meetings spread over two years and 17 days.[7] On Aug. 28, 1953, this agreement was formally adopted by the UN General Assembly. Without a subsequently signed formal peace treaty, the Korean Peninsula technically remains in a state of war ever since, with UNC’s commitment to the Armistice Agreement.[8]
- 1942–1968: While the U.S. increased its military presence domestically and internationally, the American Civil Rights Movement — caused by multiple factors, such as Jim Crow laws and socioeconomic inequality — gained momentum.
3. 1960s to Today: Continuing the fight for the ERA
- 1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the culmination of the mid-century civil rights movement along with the rise of the women’s movement in the U.S. This laid the foundation for gaining support for the ERA during the ’70s.
- 1965: Jim Crow laws, which enforced racial segregation from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, ended; the Voting Rights Act, granting all African Americans the full right to vote, passed.
- 1965-75: U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War (1955–1975)
- 1970s: Strong conservative opposition slowed ERA’s progress through Congress. Conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly led the “Stop the ERA” campaign and argued that the ERA would endanger the American family and women’s “special right” to be a wife or mother.[9]
- 1971: The ERA was introduced by Rep. Martha Griffiths (D-MI, 1955–1974) and ratified by the House of Representatives.
- 1972: The ERA was ratified by the Senate and 30 of 38 needed states; Congress sent the proposed amendment to the states for ratification with a seven-year deadline.
- 1977: While the ERA was ratified by 35 states, Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D-NY, 1973–1981) introduced a bill to extend the ERA deadline, which was originally 1979.
- 1978: Strong organizing and lobbying got the ERA ratification deadline extended to 1982, which was approved by the House and Senate.[10]
- 1990: The Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in many areas of public life, as well as many public and private places that are open to the general public, passed.
- 2017: The Women’s March took place worldwide in response to Donald Trump’s inauguration, which brought renewed focus to women’s rights issues. The #MeToo movement also went viral, contributing to a resurgence in women’s rights activism and support for the ERA, specifically.[11]
- 2017: Nevada became the 36th state to ratify the ERA.
- 2018: Illinois ratified the ERA as the 37th state.
- 2020: Fulfilling the 38-state required minimum, Virginia ratified the ERA, though the original ratification deadline had long since passed.
- 2023: Representatives introduced legislation that would remove the 1982 deadline and direct the Archivist to publish the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[12]
The common core message of the suffrage and the ERA movements calls for Americans to have the freedom of exercising equal, fundamental human rights without all forms of discrimination. Since the beginning of the suffrage movement through to the ERA movement, discriminations based on race, gender, and socio-economic status, in particular, were challenges to overcome. The lessons learned through these movements are critical and must be adhered to should we move onward and forward.
When the 15th Amendment was passed in 1870, speaking on her regret that women’s voting rights were not secured first, women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony told Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass: “If you will not give the whole loaf of justice to the entire people, it should be given to the most intelligent and capable portion of [educated white] women first.”[13] Noticing tensions between race and gender, at the National Woman’s Rights Convention in 1886, Black American abolitionist, suffragist, and poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper said, “We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving a curse in its own soul.” At the 1869 American Equal Rights Association meeting, Watkins Harper noted, “When it was a question of race, I let the lesser question of sex go. But the white women all go for sex, letting race occupy a minor position.”
Despite the passage of the 15th and 19th Amendments, discrimination based on race, gender, and socio-economic status — significant challenges in the early suffrage movement — continued to be a major hurdle in securing voting rights for all Americans until 1965. Beginning with Connecticut, many state governments administered “literacy tests” to unfairly test prospective voters from the 19th century all the way to the 1960s.[14] “Literacy tests” and voter intimidation blocked hundreds of thousands of southern Black women from casting ballots. In some states, poll taxes also impeded voting access for people of all backgrounds. For a woman with no independent income, she could only vote if her husband or father paid the tax (the poll tax was abolished with the passage of the 24th Amendment).[15] Through the mid-20th century, voting, citizenship, and equal rights for several groups were passed — including Indigenous people, Asian Americans, Black people, and those with disabilities — and it seemed that the U.S. was heading in the right direction. However, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby v. Holder, American voting rights are once again under threat. This decision limits the full protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) by eliminating critical protections. Without the full power of the VRA hobbled, states and local governments are free to adopt discriminatory election policies.
During the early ERA movement in the early 20th century, a socio-economic gap among women posed a challenge, as working women in the movement were concerned that the ERA would endanger workplace protection laws, possibly limiting women’s work hours.[16] Today, undermined status and limited representation of women in government have made it difficult for the ERA amendment to make progress through Congress.
III. Significance of the ERA
The Equal Rights Amendment would be the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. If it were to take effect, it would include:
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.[17]
In recent years, alongside women’s rights activism such as the #MeToo movement, there has been a resurgence of support to finally adopt the ERA. The #MeToo movement, a term that was coined by Tarana Burke in 2006, spread widely in 2017 when actress Alyssa Milano urged victims of sexual harassment and assault to post their stories on social media. Advocates and organizations, including the ERA Coalition, have brought the ERA back into public discourse and political agenda. As the 2020 Pew Research Survey found, around 78 percent of Americans favor adding the ERA amendment.[18] ERA Proponents agree that the amendment remains critical to establishing an explicit constitutional basis for the nation’s commitment to gender equality in law.
Opponents of the proposed amendment primarily argue that the 14th Amendment already protects women from discrimination because it guarantees equal protection under the law for all citizens. However, in reality, the 14th Amendment fails to explicitly protect the rights of all citizens without regard to gender, specifically. The 14th Amendment falls very short and cannot be an alternative to the Equal Rights Amendment. There are a number of reasons why the ERA remains necessary and significant.
If passed, the ERA would…
- raise the status of sex to a “suspect classification” like race, national origin, and religion. Cases of gender discrimination would hence be required to undergo “strict scrutiny,” the highest level of justification in the legal system.[19]
- safeguard gender equality against originalist interpretations of the Constitution that could exclude gender from the 14th Amendment’s protection.
- establish a clearer, overarching legislative framework for identifying and addressing gender-based discrimination.
- empower courts to more easily challenge laws that discriminate based on gender or that undermine existing laws against discrimination.[20]
- prevent legislation that undermines established LGBTQIA+ rights, as discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation is sex discrimination.[21]
- offer an alternative constitutional justification for abortion rights, allowing abortion to be framed as a matter of gender equality—as would be codified in the ERA—rather than of privacy.[22]
- safeguard existing statutory protections for equal pay against loopholes and legal challenges. For instance, many employers are able to get away with discriminatory pay by justifying it via a “factor other than sex.” The ERA would effectively close this loophole.[23]
Conclusion
The significance of adding the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is immeasurable. For women of color, the significance of the ERA is even more critical. Although we have made a breakthrough since the passage of the discussed amendments, we have miles to go before securing human rights for all so that legal protection is guaranteed for everyone regardless of race, gender, socio-economic background, and other diverse factors. Without it, marginalized U.S. populations will continue to face discrimination, as is shown through the history of U.S. suffrage; Black women, who led the movements to adopt the 15th and 19th Amendments and the ERA were, in 1965, the last group of U.S. women to gain full voting rights. Fundamental human rights apply to all, and adopting the ERA in the U.S. Constitution is one concrete way to secure and protect the rights of everyone today and tomorrow. As one of the world’s superpowers, the U.S. must no longer delay in setting a global standard in the cause of equality for all. The 1848 Declaration of Rights and Sentiments ends with the statement, “We hope this Convention will be followed by a series of Conventions, embracing every part of the country.” Adopting the ERA does just that.
Sources
Alice Paul Institute. “Equal Rights Amendment.” https://www.alicepaul.org/equal-rights-amendment-2/.
Bill of Rights Institute. “Phyllis Schlafly and the Debate over the Equal Rights Amendment.” https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/phyllis-schlafly-and-the-debate-over-the-equal-rights-amendment.
Center for American Progress. Buchanan, Maggie Jo and Robin Bleiweis. “The Equal Rights Amendment: What You Need to Know.” https://www.americanprogress.org/article/equal-rights-amendment-need-know/.
Connecticut history.org, available at https://connecticuthistory.org/literacy-tests-and-the-right-to-vote/.
The Daily Record. Gaskill, Hannah. “Advocates Keep Pushing for Equal Rights Amendment Amid Debate Over Deadline.” April 4, 2024. https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/04/04/advocates-keep-pushing-for-equal-rights-amendment-amid-debate-over-deadline/.
DePaul Journal for Social Justice. Machalow, Deborah. “The Equal Rights Amendment in the Age of #MeToo.” Vol. 13. No 1 (January 2020). Art. 4, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4511887.
Equal Rights Amendment. “FAQs.” https://www.equalrightsamendment.org/faqs.
Equality Now. “We Need the Equal Rights Amendment.” https://equalitynow.org/we-need-the-equal-rights-amendment/.
Heritage Foundation. Jipping, Thomas. “The ERA Has Just One Purpose Left: Abortion.” https://www.heritage.org/life/commentary/the-era-has-just-one-purpose-left-abortion.
JSTOR Daily. Jackson, Ashawnta. “The Alpha Suffrage Club and Black Women’s Fight for the Vote.” Sept. 8, 2020. https://daily.jstor.org/the-alpha-suffrage-club-and-black-womens-fight-for-the-vote/
The Long 19th Amendment Project Portal. Gidlow, Liette. “1965: From Women’s Suffrage to Women’s Liberations.” https://long19.radcliffe.harvard.edu/teaching/suffrage-syllabus/unit-5/#:~:text=The%20Long%2019th%20Amendment%20Project,grant%20from%20the%20Andrew%20W.
National Archives. Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State (1953). https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/ armistice-agreement-restoration-south-korean-state.
National Constitution Center. Bomboy, Scott. “The vote that led to the 19th Amendment.” Aug. 18, 2023. https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-man-and-his-mom-who-gave-women-the-vote.
National Organization for Women. “Chronology of the Equal Rights Amendment, 1923-1996.” https://now.org/resource/chronology-of-the-equal-rights-amendment-1923-1996/.
National Organization for Women. “Is the Equal Rights Amendment Relevant in the 21st Century?” https://now.org/resource/is-the-equal-rights-amendment-relevant-in-the-21st-century/.
National Park Service. Bailey, Meagan. “Between Two Worlds: Black Women and the Fight for Voting Rights,” available at https://www.nps.gov/articles/black-women-and-the-fight-for-voting-rights.htm#:~:text=During%20the%2019th%20and%2020th,gain%20the%20right%20to%20vote.
National Women’s History Museum.
Pew Research Center. “A Century After Women Gained the Right to Vote, Majority of Americans See Work to Do on Gender Equality.” July 7, 2020. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/07/07/a-century-after-women-gained-the-right-to-vote-majority-of-americans-see-work-to-do-on-gender-equality/.
Time. Waxman, Olivia B. “The Long History of the Equal Rights Amendment.” Aug. 29, 2019. https://time.com/5657997/equal-rights-amendment-history/.
United Nations Command. “Armistice Negotiations.” https://www.unc.mil/History/1951-1953-Armistice-Negotiations/
Voting Rights: A Short History, Carnegie Corporation of New York. https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/voting-rights-timeline/
The Washington Post. Jewell, Hannah Jewell and Grace Raver, “How racism tore apart the early women’s suffrage movement.” Sept. 8, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/gender-identity/how-racism-tore-apart-the-early-womens-suffrage-movement/.
[1] Voting Rights: A Short History, Carnegie Corporation of New York.
[2] A PDF version of the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments is available at the National Women’s History Museum.
[3] Hannah Jewell and Grace Raver, “How racism tore apart the early women’s suffrage movement,” The Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2020.
[4] Ashawnta Jackson, “The Alpha Suffrage Club and Black Women’s Fight for the Vote,” JSTOR Daily, Sept. 8, 2020.
[5] Meagan Bailey, “Between Two Worlds: Black Women and the Fight for Voting Rights,” National Park Service, Sept. 13, 2022.
[6] Scott Bomboy, “The vote that led to the 19th Amendment,” National Constitution Center, Aug. 18, 2023.
[7] Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State (1953), National Archives.
[8] Armistice Negotiations, United Nations Command.
[9] Bill of Rights Institute, “Phyllis Schlafly and the Debate over the Equal Rights Amendment.”
[10] National Organization for Women, “Chronology of the Equal Rights Amendment, 1923-1996.”
[11] Deborah Machalow, “The Equal Rights Amendment in the Age of #MeToo,” DePaul Journal for Social Justice, Vol. 13, no. 1 (January 2020): Art. 4, 2020.
[12] Hannah Gaskill, “Advocates Keep Pushing for Equal Rights Amendment Amid Debate Over Deadline,” The Daily Record, April 4, 2024.
[13] Hannah Jewell and Grace Raver, “How racism tore apart the early women’s suffrage movement,” The Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2020.
[14] Connecticut history.org.
[15] Liette Gidlow, “1965: From Women’s Suffrage to Women’s Liberations,” The Long 19th Amendment Project Portal.
[16] Olivia B. Waxman, “The Long History of the Equal Rights Amendment,” Time Magazine, Aug. 29, 2019.
[17] Equal Rights Amendment, “FAQs.”
[18] Pew Research Center, “A Century After Women Gained the Right to Vote, Majority of Americans See Work to Do on Gender Equality,” July 7, 2020.
[19] Equality Now, “We Need the Equal Rights Amendment.”
[20] National Organization for Women, “Is the Equal Rights Amendment Relevant in the 21st Century?”
[21] Equality Now, “We Need the Equal Rights Amendment.”
[22] Thomas Jipping, “The ERA Has Just One Purpose Left: Abortion,” The Heritage Foundation.
[23] Maggie Jo Buchanan and Robin Bleiweis, “The Equal Rights Amendment: What You Need to Know,” Center for American Progress.