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| + | Page Corrected by Anon. Anon is legion. Anon does not forgive. Anon does not forget. |
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| − | The '''Equal Rights Amendment''' ('''ERA''') was the informal name of a proposed amendment to the [[United States Constitution | United States Constitution]] passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification within a deadline of seven years. It nearly passed but a conservative grass-roots movement rose up and stopped it. It never became law, primarily because it would have made women subject to the military draft if men were, and few women wanted that.
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| − | ==Text==
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| − | The amendment, which was untitled, stated:
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| − | :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 | sex]].
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| − | :SECTION 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
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| − | :SECTION 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
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| − | ==Possible impact==
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| − | The purpose of the Amendment 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.
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| − | 35 out of 38 states passed this amendment, but opposition led by [[Phyllis Schlafly]] ultimately defeated it.<ref>Testimony in 2007 by Phyllis Schlafly against the Equal Rights Amendment is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7iEL54jY9Q here].</ref> 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.
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| − | ==History==
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| − | 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 until 1972.<ref>http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2003/ms003077.pdf</ref>
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| − | 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."
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| − | [[File:LOST-ERA.JPG|right|175px]]
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| − | 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.
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| − | ==Advocacy==
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| − | The ERA was advocated 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>
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| − | 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.
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| − | ==Canadian Equivalent==
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| − | 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.
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| − | == References ==
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| − | <references/>
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| − | [[category:Feminism]]
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| − | [[category:1960s]]
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Page Corrected by Anon. Anon is legion. Anon does not forgive. Anon does not forget.
