Equal Rights Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification within a deadline of seven years. The amendment, which was untitled, stated:

SECTION 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

SEC. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

SEC. 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

The purpose and effect of the Amendment would be to prohibit many legal distinctions between men and women, and boys and girls. An all-male draft or male-only combat regimens would presumably become illegal. But equal representation of boys and girls on sports teams, and the termination of all-boys or all-girls sports teams, would probably not be required, since the courts usually treat some gender distinctions as a bona fida operating qualification for which discrimination is allowed.

35 out of 38 states passed this amendment, but opposition led by Phyllis Schlafly then defeated it. Congress then extended the deadline to 1982 in legislation that a court later invalidated, but no more states passed the amendment in the additional three years anyway. Several states rescinded their prior passage of the amendment.

History

In 1923 AD, three years after women won the right to vote, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was first introduced in Congress by Senator Curtis and Representative Anthony, both Republicans. It is reintroduced in every session of Congress for 49 consecutive years.

It is authored by Alice Paul, head of the National Women's Party, who led the suffrage campaign. Congressman Anthony is the nephew of suffragist Susan B. Anthony.

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."

Inclusion of support for the ERA in the 1940 Republican Platform gave it legitimacy.

Advocacy

• "The 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."
• "... the first Woman’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls ... a two-day meeting of 300 women and men to call for justice for women in a society where they were systematically barred from the rights and privileges of citizens." [1]

Canadian Equivalent

The Canadian equivalent to the Equal Rights Amendment is known as Charter Section 28. It was ratified as a section of the 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.