The Time Is Now

Here And Nationwide, The Fight Rages On To Pass The Equal Rights Amendment

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One hundred years is a very long time. It certainly seems like an eternity to dedicated women who have been fighting for equal rights in our country.

A century, they declare, should be enough time to put them on par with men from a legal standpoint.

That’s what the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) seeks to do by explicitly guaranteeing that the rights the U.S. Constitution protects are held equally by all citizens, regardless of sex. However, even though the first version of the ERA was proposed in 1923, it’s still not the law of the land. Congress did pass the measure in 1972 – but declared it wouldn’t be official until it was ratified by 38 states. Today, it’s one state shy of that number. Virginia almost ended the standoff, but it was one vote short of passage during its recent session.

Thirteen states could step up to the plate and make history, including Florida. But, there’s another obstacle: Five states – Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Dakota and Tennessee – have withdrawn their ratifications. Even if a 38th state ratifies the measure, the matter is likely headed to the courts because Congress originally gave a 1982 deadline for ratification of the amendment. However, there is precedent for an amendment – the 27th – being ratified more than 200 years after such a deadline. In short: It would be a complicated legal showdown.

So what’s at stake for women in this fight? 

“The ERA would provide a clearer judicial standard for deciding cases of sex discrimination,” according to EqualRightsAmendment.org, a project of the Alice Paul Institute. “Not every state in the U.S. has ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, and therefore federal and state courts are inconsistent in their rulings regarding claims of sexual discrimination.”

Thus, the ERA would have a significant role in closing the gender wage gap, proponents claim.

It doesn’t end there, according to the site: “The ERA would provide a strong legal defense against the rollback of the significant advances in women’s rights that have been achieved since the mid-20th century.”

Those fighting to ratify the ERA include U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier of California, who introduced a bi-partisan resolution in late January to remove the deadline. She has 149 co-sponsors, according to her office. (The Senate introduced a companion bill in January.)

“When asked, 96 percent of Americans think that women and men should have equal rights, and 88 percent believe that our Constitution should affirm those rights, while 72 percent of Americans mistakenly believe the Constitution already includes such a guarantee,” Speier said in 2017. “Given the current political climate, and the overwhelming support, it’s clear that the ERA is still a necessity.”

She also has the support of activist and actress Alyssa Milano, who told Cosmopolitan: “It’s 2019, and I still don’t have equal rights under the Constitution. Neither do any of you, the nearly 162 million women across the U.S.” 

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, whose district includes Boca Raton and Delray Beach, is also resolutely on her side. Frankel, known for her outspoken views, has long been a champion of women’s rights. In early February, she held a press conference to call attention to the egregious gender wage gap. Women still make only 80 cents for every $1 a man is paid for the same work, she noted, quoting research by the American Association of University Women. 

Never one to shy away from a cause she believes in, Frankel, who chairs the House Democratic Women’s Working Group, asked fellow Congresswomen to wear white to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union in February – a color representative of the suffragette movement. Not only did they comply with her request, many of them adorned their outfits with “ERA Yes” pins.

Announcing the dress code on Twitter, she wrote: “We’ll honor all those who came before us & send a message of solidarity that we’re not going back on our hard-earned rights!”

While liberal women have supported the ERA over the years, more conservative women, like Anne Schlafly Cori – daughter of Phyllis Schlafly, a leading ERA opponent during the 1970s – have been staunchly opposed. 

“The ERA does not put women in the Constitution. It puts sex in the Constitution, and it doesn’t define what sex is,” Cori, chairman of the Eagle Forum, a group opposed to the amendment, told PBS News Hour. “It would up-end countless state and federal laws that currently benefit women.”

Meanwhile, in South Florida, where Democrats dominate the political scene, women still lag behind men in leadership positions. 

“It’s surprising that the amendment was left on the sidelines and not passed,” says Shelly Petrolia, the third woman to hold the Delray Beach mayor’s office in nearly a century. 

The amendment is urgently needed, she explains: “The equality laws can be overturned or weakened in courts. Constitutional protection for women’s equal rights is necessary.”

Her run for mayor coincided with the explosion of the #MeToo movement in fall 2017. Petrolia spent the months until her March election proving herself to voters. Her opponent gained local endorsements from business and development groups, while Petrolia had one that mattered much more to her – the Palm Beach County National Organization of Women (NOW). 

Arlene Ustin, a board member of the local NOW branch, says ERA ratification has always been a top priority for the organization: “We need a legal basis in the Constitution on the federal level. Even with the equal pay laws, women still don’t earn as much as men.” 

The local NOW chapter honored Ustin recently with the 46th Susan B. Anthony Feminist of the Year Award. Anthony, a suffragette, fought for women’s right to vote, which finally was added to the Constitution in 1920.

But Ustin isn’t confident that ratification is on the horizon for the Sunshine State, given how the Florida legislative process works: “If the committee chairs don’t like your bill, it never gets heard.”

That’s what happened to Lori Berman when she was a state representative. She introduced an equal rights bill each year, but it was never heard.

“We had a workshop on it, meaning we discussed the bill but didn’t vote on it,” she says.

Now, as a state senator in a district that includes Boynton Beach and coastal Delray Beach, Berman has introduced an equal rights bill for the 2019 Florida legislative session that started March 5. 

“All of the [traditional] objections have come to pass: women in combat, gay marriage and unisex bathrooms,” Berman says. 

Despite the naysayers, the ERA is greatly needed to protect the rights of women now – and in the future, she says: “Any law can be overturned when protection is not enshrined in the Constitution.” O