| | The ERA was opposed by women who wanted special laws to protect women workers, including [[Eleanor Roosevelt]]. It was mostly supported by middle class Republican women. After Congress adopted the ERA and sent it to the states, a leader in opposing ratification was [[Phyllis Schlafly]]. | | The ERA was opposed by women who wanted special laws to protect women workers, including [[Eleanor Roosevelt]]. It was mostly supported by middle class Republican women. After Congress adopted the ERA and sent it to the states, a leader in opposing ratification was [[Phyllis Schlafly]]. |
| − | The Congressional resolution that proposed the amendment set a ratification deadline of March 22, 1979. Through 1977, the amendment received 35 of the necessary 38 state ratifications. Five states later rescinded their ratifications before the 1979 deadline: Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Tennessee.<ref>https://www.thoughtco.com/which-states-ratified-the-era-3528872</ref> In 1978, a joint resolution of Congress extended the ratification deadline to June 30, 1982, without the required 2/3rds supermajority to do so, and no additional states ratified the amendment before the passing of the second deadline. Some ERA advocates have absurdly argued that the deadline is non-binding and have lobbied state legislatures to either ratify for the first time or reverse their rescissions decades after 1982. Defying logic, "Nevada Ratifies The Equal Rights Amendment ... 35 Years After The Deadline," as NPR described it.<ref>https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/21/520962541/nevada-on-cusp-of-ratifying-equal-rights-amendment-35-years-after-deadline</ref> | + | The Congressional resolution that proposed the amendment set a ratification deadline of March 22, 1979. Through 1977, the amendment received 35 of the necessary 38 state ratifications. Five states later rescinded their ratifications before the 1979 deadline: Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Tennessee.<ref>https://www.thoughtco.com/which-states-ratified-the-era-3528872</ref> In 1978, a joint resolution of Congress extended the ratification deadline to June 30, 1982, without the required 2/3rds supermajority to do so, and no additional states ratified the amendment before the passing of the second deadline. Some ERA advocates have absurdly argued that the deadline is non-binding and have lobbied state legislatures to either ratify for the first time or reverse their rescissions decades after 1982. Defying logic, "Nevada Ratifies The Equal Rights Amendment ... 35 Years After The Deadline," as NPR described it.<ref>https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/21/520962541/nevada-on-cusp-of-ratifying-equal-rights-amendment-35-years-after-deadline</ref> Then, nearly 36 years after the deadline expired, the [[Democrat]]-controlled legislature in Illinois passed ERA, and within 24 hours its primary sponsor Lou Lang resigned his leadership position amid scandalous accusations by a woman that he had committed “terrible acts against her.” The woman said of Rep. Lang, “I was harassed. I was intimidated. I was humiliated.”<ref>https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/state-rep-lou-lang-accused-of-harassing-springfield-activist/</ref> |