Is it a Little Too Late for Equal Rights?
The following article was featured in the March 2020 edition of The Campus.
By Sayra Ilyas
One of the hardest things to do in America is to amend the Constitution, which probably explains why in its 243-year lifetime there have only been 17 amendments. Going back in time to AP USH class, the amending of the Constitution is a two-step process. First, a proposed amendment must pass through a majority vote in both the House and Senate. Afterward, it must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. Today, because of such a polarized political climate, most proposals fail to pass the first stage. The Equal Rights Amendment, however, was proposed almost a century ago to Congress and was passed in 1972 by the Senate to the states for ratification. Now, almost 50 years later, Virginia has become the 38th state to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) reads that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” This statement was a celebration for American women who were finally being seen as equal in the eyes of the law! On that note, the time to commemorate may have to be curtailed; it turns out that it might be too late for the legislation of the ERA because the deadline for ratification was 1982. The government seems to be a bigger procrastinator than college students, but can it place a deadline on women’s rights?
The answer seems to be yes. However, bills have been introduced in the House of Representatives to remove the deadline and start a whole new ratification process. Julie C. Suk, who is a professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and is currently writing a book about the ERA called We the Women: The Forgotten Mothers of the Equal Rights Amendment, exclaimed that “Once you have 38 states ratifying plus action from Congress on the deadline, it’s very clear that the amendment is effective, in my opinion.” She also advocates for the ratification of the original amendment to preserve the continuity of women activists over the years, as well as to recognize the transgenerational struggle for equal rights.
Despite being proposed in the 1970s, the ERA addresses issues that persist today. One example is how childbearing and childrearing have become burdensome for women in the workplace. The ERA would provide preventive measures to protect pregnant women from discrimination, which is not seen in the current Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment. Additionally, the ERA would remedy violence against women. In 2000, the Supreme Court had struck down a portion of the Violence Against Women Act, which had allowed women to sue perpetrators of gender-motivated violence in federal courts. This decision was justified by Congress as not being within the jurisdiction to enforce the 14th Amendment.
It seems America remains stuck in the 1920s. Although there are laws that promote gender equality, they are susceptible to change. The fact of the matter is that amendments are permanent and could be used in courts as tools to challenge discriminatory practices ranging from unequal pay to abortions. The momentum from the 1970s is still there, it is just a matter of making Congress aware of it.
