IN BRIEF

Politicians change. Partisan majorities in legislatures change. Courts change. Consequently, the rights we have today can be quickly reversed or overturned. 

Nothing compares to the permanence of a U.S. Constitutional Amendment explicitly guaranteeing our rights.

THE ERA IS UGENTLY NEEDED –NOW!

Women’s rights are under attack. Last summer, the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the long-established constitutional right to abortion, saying they would only recognize rights explicitly stated in the Constitution. 

The Dobbs undermined decades of Supreme Court decisions granting women equal protection of the law—which is not explicitly guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court has never interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause to provide full equality for women, but they are now poised to remove what protections we have.

Putting the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution would create an explicit guarantee of equality without regard to sex in the U.S. Constitution—a guarantee that the Court could not deny.   

With the rise of right-wing extremism, the ERA is needed as a legal tool to prevent further reversals and rollbacks of women’s rights and to bolster Congressional power to pass new laws to strengthen women’s rights in education, employment and public life, as well as to ensure our safety, freedom and bodily autonomy.

…ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT:

Violence against women is rampant in American society. Over one in three women (35.6%) have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

In 2000, the Supreme Court invalidated an important provision of the Violence Against Women Act that allowed survivors of gendered violence to sue their attackers and responsible institutions in federal court for damages. The Court ruled that Congress had no constitutional authority to enact the provision.

The ERA would give Congress the authority to re-enact the Violence Against Women Act’s civil rights remedy for gendered violence as well as other laws to address the epidemic of violence against women in American society.

Former dean of Stanford Law School Kathleen Sullivan says, “The ERA clarifies that Congress has the power to enforce the amendment by enacting federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination that has gone unaddressed by the states—a new source of potentially powerful congressional authority against state lapses in protection against domestic violence, sexual assault and unequal employment practices.”

…ON ECONOMIC RIGHTS:

Women are being paid, on average, about 75 cents for every dollar paid to men. For African American women, their average pay drops to 63 cents and for Hispanic women, just 59 cents. Over a lifetime women will take home between $500,000 and several million dollars less than men due to pay discrimination. If other benefits are included, such as bonuses, health insurance and retirement benefits for example, these gender compensation gaps increase drastically. As a result, women receive smaller social security payments after retirement than men. On top of that, women experience high rates of sexual harassment in the workplace and bias for pregnancy and caregiving.

We have for decades had the Equal Pay Act, but this law is so narrowly drawn and has so many exceptions, it has not stopped widespread pay inequities. Title VII prohibits workplace sex discrimination, but many employees are not covered and the law’s remedies offered are severely limited. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act does not require employers to accommodate pregnant women in the workplace. And just as with VAWA, the Supreme Court could overturn all of these laws in the bat of an eye. 

The Equal Rights Amendment would be a new tool to sue the state and federal government for sex discrimination in employment, including discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people. The ERA would give Congress new powers to enact legislation to finally eradicate workplace discrimination, including sexual harassment, pregnancy bias and caregiver discrimination, and promote women into STEM and other fields where they are underrepresented and into more leadership positions in the workplace.

…ON ABORTION AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS:

When the Supreme Court overturned constitutional abortion rights in Dobbs, court member Clarence Thomas wrote a dissent urging the Court to reconsider its 1965 decision establishing the right to contraception. Dobbs could be the first step toward removal of all established reproductive rights of American women. 

An Equal Rights Amendment could provide a new basis for reproductive rights. 

Several states have ERAs in their constitutions that have been used to expand abortion rights, including to guarantee state funding for abortion. As one Michigan judge argued, abortion bans reinforce gender stereotypes and perpetuate the legal, social, and economic inferiority of women. In striking down a Michigan abortion ban, the judge explained: “Despite that men play necessary roles in the procreative process, the law deprives only women of their ability to thrive as contributing participants in the world outside the home and as parents of wanted children. The Michigan abortion ban forces a pregnant woman to forgo her reproductive choices and to instead serve as ‘an involuntary vessel entitled to no more respect than other forms of collectively owned property.’”

The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution could also provide a strong foundation for reproductive rights.

Young Women Especially Need The ERA!

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is an important amendment to the United States Constitution that would ensure equal rights for all people regardless of sex. 

Young women and girls stand to benefit the most from passage of the ERA, as it could have a major impact on their lives for years to come. 

Without this amendment in place, there is no guarantee that women will be treated equally under the law. Even though some states have passed laws guaranteeing equal rights, legislatures and court can easily weaken or even overturn these laws, depending on who holds political power at any given time. The Supreme Court could even overturn or weaken Title IX, which has increased sports opportunities for women and girls, and provides protections from sexual harassment and assault.

The ERA would provide a permanent legal foundation to protect against discrimination based on sex in education and elsewhere, and help ensure that all individuals receive fair treatment. The ERA would also expand protections for LGBTQIA+ people and prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. The ERA would also empower Congress to pass new laws protecting young women from discrimination in education and employment, and from sexual harassment, sexual assault and intimate partner violence. 

The ERA could help address menstrual inequities and biased dress codes, as well as open up new opportunities for education and employment in fields traditionally dominated by men, such as science technology engineering math (STEM) careers, which tend to pay higher wages than many other professions available today. 

Placing the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution sends powerful messages about values society holds dear. It demonstrates a commitment to fairness, inclusion, equality and justice. These principles are essential building blocks of democracy that must be upheld if we want continue progress towards creating a just and equitable world where everyone can thrive.

Together let’s make sure the next generation has the same chance to reach their full potential and realize their dreams!