LWVUS Urges US Senate to Support Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

LWVUS sent a memo to members of the US Senate urging them to support S.J. Res. 4, a resolution to affirm the validity of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

From: Virginia Kase Solomón, CEO, League of Women Voters

Re: Support S.J. Res. 4, affirming the validity of the Equal Rights Amendment  

The League of Women Voters urges you to support S.J. Res. 4 affirming the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). This bipartisan resolution, introduced by Senators Cardin and Murkowski, will affirm that the ERA is a valid part of the US Constitution. The ERA will constitutionally protect the equality of rights under the law regardless of sex. 

The ERA has satisfied all requirements set forth in Article V of the Constitution and should be published as the 28th Amendment. In 1972, the ERA was passed by Congress with well over the necessary two-thirds vote and was sent to the states. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th and final state needed to meet the three-fourths state ratification requirement. The effective waiting period has now come to an end and the amendment is enforceable. The best way to ensure that the will and ratification rights of the states are respected is by removing any doubt about the validity of the ERA. 

Despite the significant legal and legislative advances that have been made in recent decades, women continue to face discrimination on the basis of sex. The symptoms of this systemic discrimination are clear in the ongoing fights against unequal pay, workplace harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and domestic violence, among others. It is not enough to treat the symptoms; we must address the root cause of inequality by amending the Constitution. 

The fight for the Equal Rights Amendment is 100 years old this year, and support for it across the country is stronger than ever. Nearly seventy-five percent of Americans support the ERA according to polling from Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research[1]. If you believe in equality for all regardless of sex, the League urges you to support S.J. Res. 4 and critically affirm the enshrinement of equality into the Constitution once and for all.

[1] https://apnews.com/article/42b93fd7386089110543f4e1827ded67