ERA Sisters, The Time is Now

ERA Sisters, The Time is Now
Don’t Hit the Reset Button on ERA – Let’s Finish What We Started!

When five valiant efforts to re-introduce ERA in 2009 led by Shirley Breeze (MO), Emily Batten (IL), Camille Moran (LA), Sandy Oestreich (FL), Berta Seitz (AR) were defeated by a handful of Neanderthals, Carolyn Cook (DC), considered ways to bolster their efforts for the 3-state strategy, on Capitol Hill.  After much research and pondering, she concluded there had to be an end to this stalemate and it was not to give up now when we have come so far.  She drafted an official proposal urging Congress to remove ERA’s ratification time limit on the basis that a human being’s path to equality does not expire in a democracy and must exist in perpetuity. Cook believes women fought too hard for suffrage to have it taken away again on such a critical measure as ERA.  Furthermore, is it justice to erase ERA’s history and 35 states support when our sisters in the un-ratified states continue to fight for it?

Cook’s proposal included the following elements:

• Brief members of Congress as to the ongoing and recent activities for ERA’s ratification among the 15 un-ratified states.
• Make the case that ERA still reflects the will of the People 27 years after its arbitrary 1982 deadline.  Therefore – why start all over again?
• Cite statistics on the status of women today to justify the urgent need for ERA now – not 50 years from now.
• Hold Congress accountable for ERA’s failure and to improve outcomes for women and their families.
• Recommit Congress to ending legalized sex discrimination by removing ERA’s arbitrary time limit and pave the way for the final three states to vote YES.
• Attend women’s meetings and give presentations upon request to raise awareness and gauge interest in ERA again.

United 4 Equality began as a grassroots effort spearheaded by Carolyn Cook who was soon joined by the generous time and talents of Camille Moran, Louisiana ERA Coalition; Jean Landweber, Wisconsin ERA; and Sandy Oestreich , Florida ERAlliance and recently Robbie Madden (NC).  Congressman Robert Andrews (D-NJ) initially agreed to introduce our bill.  [Andrews believed that removing the time limit altogether was a marked improvement over his legislation supporting the three state strategy.] Camille officially suspended her state lobbying activities for the ERA and Paycheck Fairness to focus on our national effort while Sandy continued to stoke the flames of the ERA campaign in Florida.  Together we drafted the a proposed resolution with arguments and submitted it to Andrew’s office. However with his leadership on the health care plan and armed services committee, our bill was tabled.

Our special thanks to Laura Callow, Michigan ERAmerica, who joined us during her Christmas holiday in 2009 and attended meetings with her Michigan representatives with us.

From Dec. through March of 2010, Carolyn and Jean met with over 20 Congressional offices seeking senate sponsorship in Washington while Camille made outreach calls to potential co-sponsors in the House.  Sandy dug up all kinds of ERA information from the Congressional Research Service to educate us on its history.  Carolyn launched United for Equality into a social justice enterprise, based in Washington, DC, soley dedicated to ratifying the ERA by 2015.

When it became that Rep. Andrews could not commit the time and effort needed, we friendly ‘fired’ him in mid-March 2010.  Without skipping a beat, Jean looped back in with her representative, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin’s (D-WI) and persuaded her to come onboard as our new Lead Sponsor.  With Rep. Maloney’s nod, Tammy agreed to introduce our bill in late May 2010.  However, given the summer recess and timing of the 2010 re-election campaigns, we decided to postpone introduction until 2011.

Two years in the making, we are thrilled to announce that Tuesday, March 8, 2011 on the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Rep. Jackie Speiers (D-CA), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) introduced United for Equality’s (U4E) ERA comeback resolution to rescue ERA from its congressionally-imposed exile and put it back on the fast track for completion!
Our bill # is HJ 47 and can be found here:  http://thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d112:3:./temp/~bdxTc5::|/bss/|

On behalf of Team United for Equality, we invite the ERA Campaign Network (and its state coalitions) to join us in this effort as an alternative proposal to starting over.  Because if we put our minds and hearts together, we can remove the time limit by resolution and ratify three states by 2015.  We’re shooting for ERA to become the 28th Amendment to the US Constitution.  Can we count on your active involvement to help see it through?

Monetary contributions are most appreciated to defer operating costs as United for Equality has worked entirely pro-bono on this effort using out-of-pocket funds. Contributions are not tax deductible, but will be applied 100% to fund our ERA campaign.  Though we face an uphill battle in the 112th Congress, we refuse to let that deter us.  When we successfully remove ERA’s time limit, U4E will mount a targeted campaign to provide financial support and volunteer assistance to the states most likely to ratify ERA.

Carolyn designed U4E’s website which accepts PayPal and set up a PO Box to accept checks. Your contribution will enable us to upgrade our web presence with more helpful features to moving the campaign forward.  Our Facebook page has over 500 members, so find our page and LIKE us.  SHARE our page with others.  We have a small sampling of ERA activities on video You Tube and welcome your submissions of ERA state activities.

Ladies, this is not the time to give up and give in to starting over.  We must work together now toward finally putting women and girls in the Constitution.   Failure is not an option.  Email, call or write to us and let us know if you are prepared to fight in the spirit of Alice Paul to remove that darned time limit that she managed to keep off ERA for 49 years!  Remember, this is not for Congress to decide how best to handle ERA.  It is our job as citizens and champions of ERA to advise our representatives of the fairer approach of picking up where we left off and setting ERA on its final victory lap to completion!

The beauty about United for Equality is that it’s a big enough umbrella for all of our wonderful organizations to be equally represented!

With thanks and in Sisterhood,

United for Equality for ERA 2015