The amendment is brief—a mere 52 words—and its core sentiment appears utterly innocuous: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." But the Equal Rights Amendment has been anything but anodyne since its original defeat in the late 1970s. Today's reignited movement has much in common with the earlier fight—including the vehement and powerful opposition of the religious right.
Amid the Women's March and #MeToo movements, the presidency of Donald Trump and the wave of women elected to public office, the ERA has become a renewed rallying cry for 21st century feminism. Celebrities such as Alyssa Milano and America Ferrera, the National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Democratic politicians across the country, and a plethora of pro-ERA groups at the state and federal levels have taken up the cause, with special enthusiasm from media brands serving Millennial women (Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, and Refinery29).
A number of key legislatures are fielding ratification efforts—in Georgia, Florida, and Arizona (a bill recently failed in Virginia). These states are among the 15 holdouts that never passed the ERA during the major push in the 1970s. After Nevada's surprise ratification in 2017 and Illinois' in 2018, ERA activists now believe they need just one more state to reach the needed 38-state threshold. (Opponents argue the math is off, given that five states that originally passed the amendment subsequently rescinded, and even ERA supporters admit the road to ratification is winding, including the need for Congress to vote to override an original series of deadlines, something that would undoubtedly require Democratic control of both houses.) Many say they believe 2019 will bring a long-awaited victory, and while a single state may seem like a laughably low bar, it's not. Those left on the map remain under Republican control, making the proposition challenging at a minimum.
[For more on this story by ROSEMARY WESTWOOD, go to https://psmag.com/social-justi...ts-amendment-in-2019]
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