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The ERA
Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between
“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
24 simple words. Some might even say a no-brainer in a democracy promising justice for all. Equality of opportunity, pay, individual freedoms, and choice, for women and men, for all.
And yet, somehow, codifying the Equal Rights Amendment has proved anything but simple.
First introduced to Congress in 1923, three years after American women were finally granted the right to vote, the ERA languished for decades. Then come 1970, the women’s liberation movement had gained real political traction, led by feminist groups like NOW (the National Organization for Women), activist-authors Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, speechwriter and a cofounder of the NWPC (National Women’s Political Caucus) Jill Ruckelshaus, congresswomen Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm, and civil rights attorneys Flo Kennedy and Eleanor Holmes Norton, among many others (see section Women of 1973 for more about these trailblazers).
In February of that year, NOW members picketed the U.S. Senate when a subcommittee was discussing lowering the voting age to eighteen. They demanded Congress reopen hearings on the ERA. Then, on August 26th, 1970—the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment—women flooded the streets in over 40 cities for a nationwide “Women’s Strike for Equality”. In New York City, an estimated 50,000 women shut down Fifth Avenue. Carrying signs like: "Don't iron while the strike is hot," the protestors demanded equal opportunities in education and employment, free childcare, and legal access to abortion. Many homemakers joined in as well, refusing to clean or cook that day. As never before, women seemed united.
Riding the success of that march and “second wave feminism,” Congresswoman Martha Griffiths (D-MI) managed to wrestle the ERA out of the House Judiciary Committee—which had refused for decades to even hold hearings on the measure. She used a rarely tried procedural tactical—a discharge petition to catapult a bill out onto the floor for the full House to hear and discuss. The release required a majority to sign it. One of only 12 females among the 435 House members, Griffith managed to convince and cajole the needed numbers, helped by Republican leader Gerald Ford.
Sadly, Griffiths is little remembered today, overshadowed by more famous feminists, but many historians and news organizations of the day, like The Guardian, attributed its passage in Congress to her “implacable determination, a lawyer’s grasp of procedural niceties, and a tongue like a blacksmith’s rasp.” Note, of course, The Guardian’s backhanded compliment about Griffiths’ sharp, “less than feminine” debate style.
Griffiths re-introduced the ERA and, after some contentious debate, her H.J. Res. 208 was adopted by the House on October 12th, 1971, with a resounding bipartisan 354 yeas to 24 nays (51 not voting).
Five months later in March 1972, the Senate also adopted the ERA with overwhelming support from both parties and a stunning vote of 84 to 8. Even arch conservatives like Strom Thurmond voted for women’s rights that day.
32 minutes later, Hawaii became the first state to ratify, followed within 48 hours by Delaware, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Idaho. Ratifications bloomed quickly across the country. By the end of one year, 30 states had affirmed. Only eight more were needed to reach the required 38 out of 50.
At 1973’s dawning, feminists and their male allies—and there were many at that time, including a majority of Republicans—rejoiced. Final ratification before the 1979 deadline felt a certainty.
No longer could states (or the federal government for that matter) implement laws that denied a woman the right to own property, start a business, or obtain a loan on her own, or stop her from holding certain types of jobs, demanding the same pay as male colleagues, or continuing to work after marrying or when pregnant. No longer would women have to pick off discriminatory practices one at a time, lawsuit by endless lawsuit. No longer would they have to hold their collective breath every four years that some anti-women administration or Congress could be elected and start rescinding their rights. The constitution would protect them.
But that was before the backlash—led by Phyllis Schlafly and a coalition of conservatives, many of them upper class, suburban housewives. They flooded state houses wearing STOP ERA pins (Stop-Taking-Our-Privileges). Armed with home-baked bread and valentines they begged legislators to protect motherhood. They argued the ERA would destroy the American family. That women would be required to produce 50 percent of a household’s income and denied the choice of being stay-at-home mothers, thereby ruining children’s lives. STOP ERA activists also insisted the amendment meant women would be drafted for combat duty, would have to share jail cells or public toilets with men, and that husbands would no longer be required to financially support them or their children either during marriage or in the case of divorce.
Their fearmongering arguments turned the varying hopes and dreams of women into a bitter culture war about gender roles and “family values,” fueling the rise of the “moral majority” and the religious right’s political clout. When that anti-ERA, anti-abortion coalition elected Ronald Reagan president, he became the first since the ERA’s passage to oppose it—even though 83 percent of polled Americans believed the amendment should become law.
When the ratification deadline came, (extended to June 30, 1982), the tally of required states fell short. By three states.
Since then, sadly, fewer and fewer Americans even know what ERA stands for. Nonetheless, devoted feminists and civil liberties experts have continued fighting for it.
And technically, they won.
Nevada ratified the ERA in 2017, Illinois in 2018, and in 2020 Virginia became the 38th and final state needed. The requirements to enshrine the ERA in our constitution had been met: approval by two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states.
In response, the House voted to remove the 1982 deadline, clearing the way for its codification (by the way, the ERA is one of the few amendments to have a deadline imposed on it).
But recognition of the ERA was blocked by the Trump Administration and Senate Republicans and has been stalled in Congress ever since.
The fight goes on. Right before the historic National Women’s Conference of 1977, knowing they had a hard battle ahead of them against anti-ERA and anti-choice forces, Jill Ruckelshaus—the influential moderate Republican feminist, who today would probably be dismissed as a “republican-in-name-only (RINO)"— spoke to a NWPC gathering. As a devoted leader of the NWPC and its bipartisan quest to groom women to run for office at all levels, Ruckelshaus had long and eloquently urged what feminists have now learned the hard way post-Dobbs: that tweets, impassioned Oscar speeches, and cultural representation are great, but do not have the same power as legislative seats and votes.
Her words at that 1977 meeting were stirringly bittersweet and determined and hauntingly apply to today:
“Sisters, you were all here because you are smart. You are committed to an idea that is much larger than ourselves or the length of our lifetimes. You want to elect women to public office because we want to gain some control over the issues that affect our lives.
We want the women of America to understand what it is to be raised female where we have met the government and it is not us. Somebody is making laws in this country that affects our legal rights, even our basic right to control our own bodies. And there are not enough of us among those somebodies.
We’ve learned that we have to win our fight, then win it again four years later, and four years after that . . . We are in for a very, very long haul. I am asking for everything you have to give...your youth, your sleep, your patience, your sense of humor . . . In return I have nothing to offer you but . . . your pride in being a woman and all your dreams you've ever had for your daughters, and nieces, and granddaughters.”
Today:
Recognizing that the ERA would be a seawall against pay inequities and the growing denial of women’s reproductive rights post-Dobbs, congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) have created the Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment. They’ve been joined thus far by thirteen other members, male and female. On the Senate side, Kirsten Gillibrand (D- NY), Ben Cardin (D-Md), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are pushing resolutions in the Senate to affirm the validity of the ERA as constitutional law.
Supporting their efforts are a host of feminist organizations dedicated to gender equality, among them the ERA Coalition, NOW, the Feminist Majority Foundation, and the Columbia Law School ERA Project .
You can read more about the movement today in a Ms. Magazine’s series devoted to the amendment.
And here:
https://www.alicepaul.org/equal-rights-amendment-2/
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/equal-rights-amendment-explained
https://www.equalrightsamendment.org/
Congress.gov: frequently asked questions about the ERA
Documentaries about the ERA:
For a quick summary and a lesson plan: PBS’ American Experience: Women’s Suffrage to the ERA, a Century-long Push for Equality.
PBS: Not Done: Women Remaking America
PBS: 9 to 5: the Story of a Movement
Netflix: Feminists: What Were They Thinking
Equal Means Equal produced by Kamala Lopez plus a general directory of resources for women's rights
HBO/Max: Gloria: in Her Own Words
NY Historical Society: https://www.nyhistory.org/womens-history
A study guide: https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/equal-rights-amendment-97-year-struggle#lesson-plans
