COVID-19 impact on women spotlights continued need for ERA and equality
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For the second time in a century, a global pandemic has occurred at the height of a determined movement to expand women’s rights under the U.S. Constitution. The 1918 flu pandemic nearly halted the drive for ratification of the 19th Amendment on women’s suffrage.But advocates rallied, lobbied President Woodrow Wilson for support and urged Congress to pass a joint resolution adopting the amendment. That was followed by ratification by the states and final certification in August 1920.
Today, the campaign for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment is in the middle of another global pandemic with women losing jobs at a much higher rate than men, especially affecting women of color. In these first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration and during Women’s History Month, there is a real opportunity to make constitutional history again with lasting change for women’s rights and gender equality by adding the ERA to the Constitution.
No rights denied ‘on account of sex’
Congress approved the ERA in 1972. It says, very simply, that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex.”
President Joe Biden and Congress now have the opportunity to rally as well. This week, the House of Representatives will consider a joint resolution clearing the way for the ERA to be added to the Constitution. If the Senate also adopts the resolution, it could become part of the Constitution this year.
The ERA won ratification by the necessary three-fourths of the states when Virginia became the 38th state last year. Earlier, Nevada ratified in 2017 and Illinois in 2018. However, the ERA has yet to be formally enshrined into the Constitution because of an arbitrary timeline in the amendment’s preamble — not the legislative text sent to the states for approval — which set 1979 for ratification. Congress changed the timeline by extending it to 1982.
Congress can again weigh in by removing the timeline and recognizing the final three states, because Article V of the Constitution puts the amending process with the Congress and ratification with the states.
Congressional action is needed to support the attorneys general of Virginia, Nevada and Illinois, who went to federal court asking the national archivist to include the ERA in the Constitution. But a U.S. district judge ruled this month that the three states did not have standing to bring the case, and the 1982 deadline remains in effect.
Now is the time for Congress to recognize there can be no time limit on equality. The House and Senate should approve a joint resolution “removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment.” The measure, introduced in the House in January, already has more than 200 co-sponsors.
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The vast majority of Americans across demographic and partisan lines agree that women should have equal rights with men in this country. In a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, more than 9 in 10 U.S. adults said it is very important (79%) or somewhat important (18%). Fully 78% of U.S. adults —…
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