Dave Farber
2018-06-01 15:33:01 UTC
Date: June 1, 2018 at 10:41:21 AM EDT
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Equal Rights Amendment's surprise comeback, explained
The Equal Rights Amendmentâs surprise comeback, explained
If one more state ratifies the Equal Rights Amendment, it could make it into the Constitution â maybe.
By Emily Stewart
May 31 2018
<https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/31/17414630/equal-rights-amendment-metoo-illinois>
Itâs taken 45 years for 37 states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, with Illinoisâs vote on Wednesday to do so leaving it one short of the 38 states needed to enshrine a formal amendment in the US Constitution.
But thereâs a legal debate raging about whether the deadline to ratify the amendment guaranteeing equal rights to women passed decades ago or if thereâs a possible legal workaround.
Still, an unclear future is the brightest prospect for the amendment in decades. The amendment, which guarantees that âequality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex,â passed Congress on a bipartisan basis in 1972, became a culture war battleground, and then, until last year, lay dormant, presumed to be a lost cause.
Its revival comes in the midst of the #MeToo movement, the Womenâs March, and a moment of a sort of reawakening of feminism and womenâs activism in America. Women are running for office at record rates in 2018, and Donald Trumpâs victory â and Hillary Clintonâs loss â in 2016 has spurred a new wave of women finding their voices and insisting on equality. Thatâs translated not just to new causes but to the revival of old ones: For decades, Indiana, which ratified the amendment in 1977, was the 35th and last state to sign on. Then last year, Nevada became the 36th.
The Equal Rights Amendment had a lot of momentum behind it in the 1970s, and then it just sort of petered out
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.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
The amendment gained momentum in the 1960s and â70s, culminating with passage in the US Senate and the House of Representatives in 1972, which put it on track to become what would have been the 27th Amendment of the Constitution. It was sent to the states for ratification and put on a seven-year deadline.
Support was, initially, bipartisan and broad. In the first year after the amendment was passed, 22 states ratified it.
But opposition began to organize, led by anti-feminist conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly, who argued the ERA would erase legal differences between men and women and would lead to an America where men wouldnât be required to support their wives, anyone could walk into any bathroom, women could be drafted, and same-sex marriage would be legalized. Schlafly died in 2016 at the age of 92.
âSince the women are the ones who bear the babies, and thereâs nothing we can do about that, our laws and customs then make it the financial obligation of the husband to provide the support,â Schlafly said in 1973. âIt is his obligation and his sole obligation. And this is exactly and precisely what we will lose if the Equal Rights Amendment is passed.â
Schlaflyâs line of attack caught on, as did others â that the ERAâs passage would expand abortion rights, that it would infringe on statesâ rights, that it would be costly to businesses. Indiana became the 35th state to ratify the ERA in 1977. Then its momentum stalled.
[snip]
Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wa8dzp
-------------------------------------------Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Equal Rights Amendment's surprise comeback, explained
The Equal Rights Amendmentâs surprise comeback, explained
If one more state ratifies the Equal Rights Amendment, it could make it into the Constitution â maybe.
By Emily Stewart
May 31 2018
<https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/31/17414630/equal-rights-amendment-metoo-illinois>
Itâs taken 45 years for 37 states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, with Illinoisâs vote on Wednesday to do so leaving it one short of the 38 states needed to enshrine a formal amendment in the US Constitution.
But thereâs a legal debate raging about whether the deadline to ratify the amendment guaranteeing equal rights to women passed decades ago or if thereâs a possible legal workaround.
Still, an unclear future is the brightest prospect for the amendment in decades. The amendment, which guarantees that âequality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex,â passed Congress on a bipartisan basis in 1972, became a culture war battleground, and then, until last year, lay dormant, presumed to be a lost cause.
Its revival comes in the midst of the #MeToo movement, the Womenâs March, and a moment of a sort of reawakening of feminism and womenâs activism in America. Women are running for office at record rates in 2018, and Donald Trumpâs victory â and Hillary Clintonâs loss â in 2016 has spurred a new wave of women finding their voices and insisting on equality. Thatâs translated not just to new causes but to the revival of old ones: For decades, Indiana, which ratified the amendment in 1977, was the 35th and last state to sign on. Then last year, Nevada became the 36th.
The Equal Rights Amendment had a lot of momentum behind it in the 1970s, and then it just sort of petered out
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.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
The amendment gained momentum in the 1960s and â70s, culminating with passage in the US Senate and the House of Representatives in 1972, which put it on track to become what would have been the 27th Amendment of the Constitution. It was sent to the states for ratification and put on a seven-year deadline.
Support was, initially, bipartisan and broad. In the first year after the amendment was passed, 22 states ratified it.
But opposition began to organize, led by anti-feminist conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly, who argued the ERA would erase legal differences between men and women and would lead to an America where men wouldnât be required to support their wives, anyone could walk into any bathroom, women could be drafted, and same-sex marriage would be legalized. Schlafly died in 2016 at the age of 92.
âSince the women are the ones who bear the babies, and thereâs nothing we can do about that, our laws and customs then make it the financial obligation of the husband to provide the support,â Schlafly said in 1973. âIt is his obligation and his sole obligation. And this is exactly and precisely what we will lose if the Equal Rights Amendment is passed.â
Schlaflyâs line of attack caught on, as did others â that the ERAâs passage would expand abortion rights, that it would infringe on statesâ rights, that it would be costly to businesses. Indiana became the 35th state to ratify the ERA in 1977. Then its momentum stalled.
[snip]
Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wa8dzp
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=26461375
Unsubscribe Now: https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=26461375&id_secret=26461375-c2b8a462&post_id=20180601113309:14CBCC34-65B1-11E8-84B3-DFEE08F06B74
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com