The Equal Rights Amendment was proposed in 1923 by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman to constitutionally ensure equality of all genders. It is very shocking that this is not already in our Constitution.
In 1972, Congress passed this in both houses. If one is not aware of this, an amendment after being passed by Congress, must be ratified by 3/4 of the states. The really stupid part is that they set a deadline of 7 years(though they extended it 3 more years.)
Ratification deadlines have been around since the 18th Amendment. However, this deadline serves no purpose but to fail the amendment. The SCOTUS’s most recent decision about this, Coleman v. Miller, in 1939, states that this is up to Congress, not the court, and that the Constitution does not say anything about such deadlines.
So, back to the ERA. Thirty five states ratified it. Only three states more were needed. And then the deadline came. And five states even rescinded their ratification. This is really horrible.
But there is something we can do. Representative Jackie Speier from California and Senator Benjamin Cardin from Maryland introduced bills, in the House and Senate respectively, about a year ago that would remove the ratification deadline for the ERA. Then we need to push for state legislatures to approve the ERA. The states that still have to do this are Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. We only need eight states but the more the better.
First, tell your legislators in Congress to push S.J. Res. 15:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/15/text
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-joint-resolution/51/all-info
