WE STILL NEED THE ERA. Over 90% of Americans agree that the Constitution should guarantee equal rights regardless of gender. Over 70% of Americans believe it already does. IT DOES NOT!
That’s right! Gains in women’s rights — the right to own property, the right to work, the right to an education, the right to participate in sports — have been made through policies and legislation, which can be repealed. Women’s only explicitly stated right in the Constitution is the right to vote.
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) states: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
The ERA will create a permanent, uniform, and national standard for eliminating sex discrimination by government at all levels and would raise the level of judicial review for gender discrimination to match that for discrimination based on race and religion. Without this guarantee, women in the U.S. do not have Constitutional equality. Laws furthering women’s rights, such as the Violence Against Women Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, can be repealed by a simple majority vote in Congress.
According to the Global Gender Gap Report, which looks at economic, education, health, and political equity measures, the United States ranks 49th out of 144 countries in gender equity. In fact, 84% of the 197 constitutions in place worldwide explicitly guarantee gender equality. Ours does not.