Congress promptly sent the proposed amendment to the states for ratification with a seven-year deadline. In March 1972, the amendment passed both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support far exceeding the two-thirds majorities required by the Constitution. Faced with increased pressure, Celler finally relented. Emanuel Celler (D-NY), the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who had refused to hold a hearing on the ERA for over 30 years. They had to overcome the resistance of Rep. ![]() Martha Griffiths (D-MO) and Shirley Chisholm (D-NY) - pressed to make the ERA a top legislative priority. In 1970, a new class of women lawmakers - including Reps. The picture was only slightly better in the House. In the nearly five-decade span between 19, only 10 women served in the Senate, with no more than 2 serving at the same time. It didn’t help that for most of the twentieth century, Congress was comprised almost entirely of men. ![]() The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”īeginning in 1923, lawmakers introduced the ERA in every session of Congress, but it made little progress until the 1970s. “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The version approved by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states reads: While the text of the amendment has changed over the years, the gist of it has remained the same. They believed that enshrining the principle of gender equality in our founding charter would help overcome many of the obstacles that kept women as second-class citizens. For women’s rights advocates, the ERA was the next logical step following the successful campaign to win access to the ballot through the adoption of the 19th Amendment. The Equal Rights Amendment was first drafted in 1923 by two leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. These raise important questions, and now it is up to Congress, the courts, and the American people to resolve them. The ratification deadlines that Congress set after it approved the amendment have lapsed, and five states have acted to rescind their prior approval. And yet, there are still hurdles in the ERA’s path. Virginia was the 38th state to ratify the ERA since Congress proposed it in 1972, technically pushing the ERA across that threshold. The Constitution provides that amendments take effect when three-quarters of the states ratify them, putting the current threshold at 38 states. This historic vote follows recent ratifications by Nevada in 2017 and Illinois in 2018 after four decades of inactivity. It received bipartisan support in both chambers. ![]() The measure emerged as a top legislative priority after Democrats took control of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly for the first time in two decades, leading to the election of the first female speaker of the state’s House of Delegates. On January 15, Virginia became the latest state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a proposed amendment to the Constitution that guarantees equal rights for women. Attend the Brennan Legacy Awards Dinner.Advance Constitutional Change Show / hide.National Task Force on Democracy Reform & the Rule of Law.Government Targeting of Minority Communities Show / hide.Campaign Finance in the Courts Show / hide.Gerrymandering & Fair Representation Show / hide.Ensure Every American Can Vote Show / hide.
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