This article appeared in The Hoofbeat, publication of Owen High School in Black Mountain. Sarah Gilmour is 16.
Though the voting rights of women have been protected by the United States Constitution since 1920, not discriminating on the basis of sex has never been codified into law.
Proposed in 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) now reads, in its entirety:
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.
Currently, North Carolina, which has not ratified the ERA, is working on passing the amendment. Roberta Madden, of Black Mountain, is one of the most active voices in this struggle for the equality of women in North Carolina. Madden founded the Equal Rights Amendment North Carolina Citizens Task Force.
When Madden was a teenager, her mother worked at a supermarket. After the manager resigned, her mother would have been the most qualified person for the position. However, the job went to a bag boy simply because of his gender. Since that time, Madden has worked for the equality of women.
“The only protection we really have is our right to vote,” Madden said.
History teacher Mary Julian also believes passing the amendment is important.
“I think legislatively and judicially women do have equal rights, but, symbolically, by not passing the Equal Rights Amendment, it propagates the idea that women are not equal,” Julian said.
Even today, women are paid 86 cents to every dollar men make. The ratification of this amendment would stop this inequality and prevent sexism during hiring.
This seemingly simple amendment has been met with 88 years of controversy.
Madden believes part of the problem is the “ancient idea that women are here to wait on men.”
The insurance lobbyists are also active in preventing the passage of the ERA. Women still pay more for health insurance than men do.
During the 1972 push for the ratification of the ERA, a strong opposition emerged, called Stop ERA. This opposition was headed by Phyllis Schlafly. The anti-ERA movement consisted of several claims that the ERA would destroy the American family. Other claims by the opposition included the creation of unisex bathrooms and women being forced to participate in military combat.
In the time span from 1923 to 1972, the amendment was brought up for a vote in every Congress. After the amendment was passed in 1972, it was sent to the states for ratification. Only 35 of the needed 38 states ratified the amendment before the 1982 deadline.
After the 203 year old Madison amendment, or the Congressional Pay Amendment, was added to the Constitution in 1992, supporters of the ERA developed the Three State Strategy. The strategy is to have three more states ratify the ERA to challenge the deadline.
On June 22, 2011, the ERA was introduced, yet again, to Congress. The introduction followed a class action lawsuit in a Supreme Court case in which Wal-Mart was accused of sex discrimination. This included the company refusing to pay the 1.5 million women the same pay the men working in the company receive. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wal-Mart with a 5-4 vote. All women on the Supreme Court voted with the women. The five who voted with Wal-Mart were all men.
Though the U.S. already has many laws that protect womens rights, the ERA, according to Madden, will give these laws “a level of bedrock protection under the constitution.”
Madden said, “It’s a new day, a new time, new people, and it’s time to get this amendment passed.”
