Have you ever heard of something called the Equal Rights Amendment, or ERA for short? It’s a really important idea that people have been working on for almost 100 years. This article will tell you the history of the ERA, what is being done to put the ERA into the Constitution and why it is important. You know, everyone deserves to be treated equally and fairly, especially if they’re a woman. That’s what the ERA is all about. It’s like a special rulebook that we want to
add to our Constitution to make sure women have the same rights and opportunities as men.
You see, a long time ago, in 1923, the ERA was first proposed right after women got the right to vote with the 19th Amendment. But it took a lot of time and effort for the ERA to become a real thing. Finally, in 1972, it passed Congress and the Senate, which was a big deal!
But here’s the tricky part: in order for the ERA to become a part of the Constitution, it needed to be approved by 38 out of 50 states. It was really close, because 35 states said yes! But the people who made the rules said there was a time limit, which meant the states had to approve it by a certain date. That’s a bit unusual, right?
Even though the deadline was extended a couple of times, more states didn’t approve it in time. But don’t worry, recently some awesome people decided to bring back the idea of removing the time limit. They wanted to give the ERA another chance!
This amazing group called “Equal means Equal” started working really hard to get three more states to approve the ERA. And guess what? They did it! Now we have all 38 states needed to make it happen.
So now, there are lots of exciting things happening to make the ERA a part of the Constitution. People are using different strategies to make it official. They want to make sure that everyone, no matter if they’re a man or a woman and everyone in between, has equal rights and opportunities. It’s all about treating everyone fairly and with respect.
That’s why the ERA is such an exciting and important idea, especially in these crazy political times. It’s a strategy to make sure everyone is treated equally, without any unfairness or discrimination. There are actually two cool ways we’re working to get it into the Constitution!
The first way involves someone very important, the President of the United States, who is like the leader of our country. President Biden could do something. He could tell the US Archivist, who is like the keeper of important documents, to enter the ERA into the Constitution. It’s kind of like giving it a special stamp of approval! The second way is through something called “special administrative tactics” in Congress. Congress is where laws are made, and there are some special things they can do to make sure the ERA becomes a part of the Constitution.
Recently many women in the Congress came up with a rarely used. After many meetings and discussions, some women in the Congress have thought of a different strategy to make it happen. It’s like a game plan to get things done!
The plan is called a “Discharge Petition” for a proposed law called House Joint Resolution 25. If only 218 House members sign this it will require that this bill gets a fair hearing. So far, we are almost at 200!
Call to Action: Help us reach the 218 number by contacting your member of Congress and let them know we are tired of waiting to be equal. Because there are enemies who don’t want women to be equal this “petition” will remain open until it reaches 218 and we get the vote, or the Congressional session ends, whichever comes first.
Let’s get to Work!