Last week on Wednesday evening, Illinois became the 37th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, often known as the ERA.
The ERA as it was proposed then (and it still has not been greatly altered since) was designed to establish equality between the sexes, as the name suggests. The first clause states:
“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
Indeed, it was designed to force an end to discrimination based on sex, and negated laws that limited a woman's right to buy or sell property, as well as an employer's right to deny compensation for pregnant employees.
This has been a battle spanning several decades. In Illinois, the ERA was defeated back in 1982, despite considerable celebrity support for the proposed amendment. Obviously, that was a long time ago. Yet, it actually predates even that.
In fact, the ERA has a history now approaching nearly a century. The first draft was written by Alice Paul back in the early 20th century. She relentlessly fought for women's suffrage and championed the amendment, even going to jail for it, back in the 1920's. She also fought hard to get the 19th amendment passed. There was progress, as women did get the right to vote. But outright equality in he eyes of the law was still a long way off. The proposed amendment was ratified overwhelmingly by a clearly more progressive Congress all the way back in March of 1972 - over 46 years ago. But for it to fully become law, the amendment and it's supporters needed to get 38 states on board.
But only 35 did so. By 1982, it fully appeared that the ERA amendment was dead, for all intents and purposes.
Yet suddenly, here we are. It is 2018, a year that some are already calling the new "Year of the Woman." There are more women running for office this year than ever before, and we are in the midst of the "Me too" movement, which technically began late last year.
And now this.
The ERA seemed to die in the 1980's when it failed to get 38 states specifically to ratify it. Yet, supporters noticed that other bills did not have deadlines, and so the shift recently has been to go ahead and pursue ratification by 38 states, which would effectively make it the law of the land. This might have been one of the silver linings, and obviously unintended consequences, of the election of Donald Trump to the White House . Opponents who generally have not been terribly organized suddenly saw a strong boost as political resistance rose and grew more organized. This was the case with women's right advocates, as well. Nevada ratified the ERA last year, and now Illinois passed it this year.
That means that 13 states still have not ratified it. As Matthew Haag of the New York Times reports:
There are 13 possibilities for the final state: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.
After that, the organizers would lobby Congress to recognize the 38 total ratifications.
Right now, there is a battle that has begun in Virginia to ratify the amendment. And you will remember that Virginia had a seismic shift politically during last year's election, when the traditionally staunchly Republican state legislature suddenly went Democratic. That means that it just might have a shot to indeed become that 38th state.
Things are starting to get interesting now.
Stay tuned.
These are the articles that I used, which proved very valuable to me in writing this blog entry - especially the one from the New York Times, which delved into the history that I used here:
The Equal Rights Amendment Was Just Ratified by Illinois. What Does That Mean? by Matthew Haag May 31, 2018:
Equal Rights Amendment approval comes 36 years after raucous Capitol protests by Rick Pearson of the Chicago Tribune, June 1, 2018:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-equal-rights-amendment-illinois-history-20180531-story.html
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