The night before I helped organize a "Bigger than Roe" Rally in our town on a cold Saturday in January, I did a deep dive on the history of the ERA. Here's what I learned.
UPDATE: Tuesday, Feb 28, 2023 · 11:35:46 PM +00:00 · Critithinker
Thank you for your interest in the ERA! Please recommend this post — like I said, most people, when asked, think that the ERA is already in our Constitution. It is not. And judging from the opposition's rhetoric in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, we will continue to hear the same, OLD, TIRED arguments against the Equal Rights Amendment — straight out of Schlafly playbook (GRRR!). Anyway, I would love it if this was on Daily Kos' Rec List — there is #NoDeadlineOnEquality #ERANow — The ERA is LONG OVERDUE!
WATCH TUESDAY: The Senate Judiciary Committee meets on the ERA, Tuesday, February 28, 8am MST, here. (I’ll come back to this post and if necessary, update the link after the hearing)
ALSO: ERA ACTION ITEMS are at the end of this post!
Many folks think the ERA is already part of our Constitution. It is not.
In 1972, the year that Colorado ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, I was 12 years old, in Longmont, Colorado. I can’t say that at the time, I knew exactly what Title IX was, but I did know what it was like to be finally told I could wear pants to school — and not just under my dress, on snowy days!
By the time I was 20 in 1980, and in college at Colorado State, I remember distinctly feeling that women were making progress. Roe was only 7 years old, we knew it was groundbreaking, yes. And, yes, still shame around a decision to have an abortion. But at the same time, my girlfriends and I thought it crazy any woman would go to college, only to get her “MRS” degree (though there were still a few that fully admitted they did). Because, we felt the whole world was ahead of us. And nothing was stopping us from doing whatever we wanted with our lives.
But 1980 was the same year that the ERA fell 3 states shy of ratification. I was devastated, couldn’t understand it. Then I learned who was behind one of the most effective opposition campaigns in political history: The Queen of Hypocrisy, Phyllis Schlafly.
The flyer that Schlafly had her volunteers, women who she said, “didn’t even know their state capitol”, stuff into envelopes and mail all over America, beginning in 1972.
Phyllis Schlafly was called at the time, “a political animal in homemaker’s clothing”, who spoke in “half truths to her wide-eyed followers.” Quite intelligent as well as ambitious, she received a Masters from Radcliffe, a Masters from Harvard, and a law degree from Washington University, often working outside of the home, traveling, giving lectures, and appearing on TV. Was a self-published author. Ran for congress twice, and lost, before taking on her campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment — so not exactly the image of a 1970s homemaker. While her volunteers, who she described as “housewives who didn’t even know their state capitol”, did the grassroots work: answered phone calls and stuffed envelopes with STOP ERA flyers.
Still, ironically, and quite hypocritically, Schlafly’s message was to scare conservative women into thinking their roles as “homemakers” were at risk. That the ERA would have “women involuntarily assigned to heavy lifting, strenuous and dangerous men’s jobs” (though, Schafly herself worked at an ammunition factory during WWII). Of course, some of her fears were things we actually want when it comes to equality, like marriage equality and access to reproductive care. But her agenda followed a common conservative trope, still used today: beware of progress, because your way of life will change, in fact, you might lose something, if others ask for fairness and equality. Phyllis Schlafly endorsed Donald Trump before she died in 2016.
SOME ERA HISTORY:
First introduced to Congress in 1923, the ERA is then introduced in every single congress, but is never brought to vote until 1971, where it is enormously popular.
ERA Timeline, 1923–1972
That year, the US House approves the ERA with a vote of 354 to 24 — that’s more than two-thirds of the vote — imagine those margins today!
(That’s SEVENTY FOUR more Dems than Republicans in the House back then)
In 1972, still very popular: not only does the US Senate approve the ERA, by two-thirds, 84 to 8 (10 more Dems than Rs) BUT ALSO, 22 states swiftly ratify it!
But Schlafly’s opposition campaign is effective. She draws support from the religious right, linking her cause to the fight against abortion, had debates with feminists, and had
ERA Timeline, 1973–1977
grassroots volunteers bring cookies to the men who dominated the state legislatures.
In 1973, only 8 more states ratify the ERA
1974: 3 more states, Maine, Montana & Ohio.
1975: Only North Dakota
1977: Only Indiana ratifies, making it the 35th out of 38 states required (or 3/4ths of all states)
Even though the ERA continues to be introduced in every single congress, and 10 of the 15 remaining unratified states attempted to ratify in their state legislatures, the ratification number of 35 languishes for another 40 years…
[I think this is the period when people started to think the ERA was an amendment. Test it yourself. Ask anyone you know, “do you think the Equal Rights Amendment is part of our Constitution?” Remind them, it is not.]
ERA Timeline, 1979–2021
Finally, ratifications start to move again. Women and some men in congress continued to champion the ERA every two years and, in 2017, Nevada becomes the 36th state to ratify.
2018: Illinois is the 37th
And in 2020, Virginia becomes the 38th state to ratify
In 2021, the US House, with the larger majority we had at the time, votes to remove the 1982 deadline.
About that deadline. In my slide, I called it “arbitrary”. A constitutional scholar might argue otherwise.
The ERA has met both Article V amendment requirements.
But I do know that Article V sets out two requirements for amendments to our Constitution:
- Approval by two-thirds of both chambers of Congress (the US House did so in 1971, the US Senate did so in 1972)
- Ratification by three-fourths of the states (Virginia was the 38th in 2020)
The ERA has met both.
And speaking of constitutional scholars...Laurence Tribe said this: “My conclusion...is that the ERA is currently a valid part of the United States Constitution, that Congress should act concurrently to recognize it as such, and that even if Congress takes no such action the archivist should publish it as the [28th] Amendment.”
Ms. Magazine, 2/24/23: “At the Feb. 28 hearing, constitutional law scholars from the ERA Project at Columbia Law School will testify that Congress has full authority over Article V procedures and disputes to amend the Constitution, and that action related to constitutional amendments is valid if undertaken by both houses in one or consecutive sessions…They will also argue that the Senate majority should treat Article V matters as not subject to the filibuster.” Rest of story, here.
[Here’s what happened with the former US Archivist, David Ferriero, who has since retired. Court cases are still pending.]
The NEW US Archivist is Debra Steidel Wall, (email here.) who Biden appointed in May of 2022. But if you read some of her remarks that she made as Deputy Archivist, that are now stored in the National Archives, I think we’re in pretty good shape. She also served on the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, the formation of which was passed by congress, "to ensure a suitable observance of the centennial of the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States providing for women's suffrage."
WHAT CAN YOU DO to help make the ERA the 28th Amendment? — SO many things!
First, FRONTBURNER EVERYTHING ERA: Its history, for one. Another reason why most folks think the ERA is already part of our Constitution is because NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT. Talk to your friends, family and throw it out on your social media platforms...
I’ve given you the history highlights here, but the sources are out there, to list a few:
equalrightsamendment.org (hopefully to be updated soon, but rich with resources)
eracoalition.org (you can watch the Feb. 28 Senate Judicial hearing on their youtube channel)
Ms Magazine has an ERA tab on their website
Equal Means Equal documentary on Prime video (came out 7 years ago, and still excellent)
Ordinary Equality podcast with Kate Kelly and Jamia Wilson
Brennan Center ERA Explainer
And a MUST READ: Columbia Law School Center for Gender & Sexuality Law, October 05, 2021
WATCH & SHARE: A recording of my slide program, A Mini History of the ERA, here.
WATCH TUESDAY: The Senate Judiciary Committee meets on the ERA, Tuesday, February 28, 8am MST Read about the ERA Project’s constitutional scholars, who will be in attendance, here.
Second, CONTACT your Congressional Rep., and BOTH of your Senators. If they’re Dems, GREAT. They most likely support the ERA, but tell them to BE LOUD ABOUT THEIR SUPPORT! If your reps are repugs, URGE THEM ANYWAY, to support the no brainer, once-folks-know-about-it widespread POPULARITY of the Equal Rights Amendment. Don’t worry. We know they’ll take credit for it if it becomes an amendment. (And if they’re assholes about it, ACTIVELY seek and support Democratic candidates to RUN AGAINST THEM. We CAN have majorities the likes of which we had in the 1970s).
AND DON’T FORGET about your state legislatures! If your state already ratified the ERA (ratification map, here), make sure there are no extremists seeking to rescind it. And if your state hasn’t ratified the ERA (Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah) — FIND OUT what previous sessions have brought the ERA forward (because they likely have, even in a red state!). Then FIND a democratic state rep. or senator (a minority ERA Caucus?) who is willing to bring it forward — if ONLY to make a STATEMENT.
NEXT, HOLD SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER to his word. A vote on the floor has yet to be scheduled on Senate Joint Resolution 4, to remove the ERA deadline.
Correction: it’s actually NINE Republicans that are needed, not ten.
But late last year, feminist leaders and congressional members secured a promise from Senate Majority Leader Schumer that he’d bring it up for a vote before April of this year.
CONTACT SCHUMER and remind him of his promise (& his tweet! See below) —
EMAIL Schumer using this form
PHONE: 202.224.6542
twitter: @SenSchumer
Remind @SenSchumer of his promise — and his tweet!
NEXT, HOLD PRESIDENT BIDEN to his word. In January of 2022, he said this: “Today, as the House announces a resolution on the Equal Rights Amendment, I once again want to express my support for the ERA loudly and clearly. I have been a strong supporter of the ERA ever since I first ran for the Senate as a 29-year-old. We must recognize the clear will of the American people and definitively enshrine the principle of gender equality in the Constitution. It is long past time that we put all doubt to rest. I am calling on Congress to act immediately to pass a resolution recognizing ratification of the ERA. As the recently published Office of Legal Counsel memorandum makes clear, there is nothing standing in Congress’s way from doing so. No one should be discriminated against based on their sex—and we, as a nation, must stand up for full women’s equality.”
Biden’s on a roll, since the SOTU. Plus, that EIGHTY-year-old guy, took a TEN-HOUR train ride through Poland, in secret, right smack dab into a WAR ZONE, the air raids sounding right as he said hello to Zelensky! — so he can HAVE A CHAT WITH THE US ARCHIVIST to sign off on the ERA, don’t you think? At the very least, tweet, email — even text President Biden at 302.404.0880 — and URGE HIM to be LOUD in his public support of the ERA.
LET’S GET THE ERA INTO OUR CONSTITUTION (from Columbia Law School):
An explicit guarantee of sex equality in the Constitution.
Broader, more modern, substantive, not just formal, equality.
Challenge sex discrimination at ALL levels of government: federal, state and local.
Recognize pregnancy discrimination as a form of prohibited sex discrimination.
Requiring courts to apply the most exacting level of judicial review on discriminatory laws that are based on gender and sex stereotyping and bias.
An inclusive definition of sex that encompasses sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and others.
Bringing the United States in line with the more than 100 other countries with constitutional protections against sex-based discrimination.
Will you join me?
— thanks for making it through this very long post! ;-)
