The League of Women Voters of North Carolina held its annual convention in Charlotte May 31-June 2 and voted to include the Equal Rights Amendment as one of nine important issues on which the League will work. Previously, the state board had designated the ERA as non-recommended because it was believed that no legislation is pending. However, we explained that important legislation is indeed pending, since SJR 15 and HJR 43 (to eliminate the ERA deadline) were recently introduced in Congress. The delegates then voted to include ERA in a list of nine items deserving LWV attention. However, on the second day, the group prioritized the items and picked the top four to address, meaning that LWVNC funds would go only to those four (education, immigration, health, and voter ID).
During the convention, the Equal Rights Amendment Caucus met to consider how to capitalize on the best opportunity we have had in 30 years to make the ERA part of the U.S. Constitution. The caucus was facilitated by Roberta Madden and Nancy Glowacki, members of Asheville-Buncombe County and Henderson County Leagues respectively, and founders of RATIFY ERA-NC. Joint resolutions have been introduced in Congress to eliminate the deadline so that only three more states are needed to ratify the amendment. These measures are Senate Joint Resolution 15 and House Joint Resolution 43. No member of the NC delegation has signed on as a cosponsor to date.
The ERA caucus was designed to educate about the current status, to focus on the next essential steps to help pass the current legislation in Congress, to prepare for the legislation we hope to initiate later in NC, and to elicit willing and enthusiastic League action to assist in this endeavor.
About 20 women participated in the caucus, with 16 of them signing up for the following responsibilities:
To serve as LWV point persons across the state to help sponsor/organize area ERA educational public meetings that RATIFY ERA-NC will facilitate.
To lobby North Carolina’s U.S. senators and representatives to support and/or co-sponsor
the strategic legislation in Congress and eventually for an ERA resolution in the NC General Assembly in 2015.
To serve as database manager for RATIFY ERA-NC.
Participants took part in lively role-playing as practice for speaking with reluctant or uninformed lawmakers and addressing strong objections to the ERA. Feedback confirmed that two requirements are necessary: 1) know your facts and 2) practice non-defensive listening and discussion. General feedback was very favorable; people shared and learned and were ready to move forward.
