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The so-called '''Equal Rights Amendment''' ('''ERA''') was a proposed amendment to the [[United States Constitution | United States Constitution]] passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification within with a deadline for ratification of seven years. It was stopped by a [[conservative]] grass-roots movement that raised these a number of objections, including the following:
*it would require drafting women just like men, and putting women in combat just like men
:SECTION 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
==Possible impact==
The purpose of the Amendment ERA was to prohibit many legal distinctions between men and women, and boys and girls. An all-male draft or male-only combat regiments would presumably have become illegal.<ref>Anti-ERA Phyllis Schlafly quote</ref> But equal representation of boys and girls on sports teams, and the termination of all-boys or all-girls sports teams, would probably not have been required, since the courts usually treat some gender distinctions as a ''bona fida operating qualification'' for which discrimination is allowed.
==History==
After women won the right to vote in 1920, the next step for some feminists was the the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA); it was first introduced in Congress and rejected in every one of its sessions from 1923 until 1972.<ref>http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2003/ms003077.pdf</ref>
It was initially authored by [[Alice Paul]], head of the National Women's Party, who led the suffrage campaign. The original version of the ERA stated that "Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction."
==Advocacy==
The ERA was advocated for by [[Gloria Steinem]] and [[Betty Friedan]]. For example, a pro-ERA site claims that "[t]he new Constitution's promised rights were fully enjoyed only by certain white males. Women were treated according to social tradition and English common law and were denied most legal rights. In general they could not vote, own property, keep their own wages, or even have custody of their children."<ref>http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/era.htm</ref>
In fact, the [[U.S. Constitution]] actively denied women the right to vote in the late 1800s by including gender specific language in the Fourteenth Amendment. Section two of the Fourteenth Amendment specifically uses the phrase "male inhabitants" to continue the disenfranchisment of women.
==Canadian Equivalent==
The Canadian equivalent to the Equal Rights Amendment ERA is known as Charter Section 28. It was ratified as a section of the constitution Canadian Constitution in 1982, and came into effect in 1985. Since then, many laws have been invalidated because they were in violation of Charter Section 28.
== References ==