Dear John,
This week marked a historic occasion: for the first time in forty years, the Senate took up the Equal Rights Amendment.
Senate Majority Leader Schumer moved to place S.J. Res. 4—which, if passed, would declare the ERA ratified and valid—before the full Senate on Thursday. However, Republican opposition meant the Resolution could not make it to the 60 vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster and bring it to the floor for debate and a vote. The resolution drew 51 senators in favor, including all Democrats and Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). All other Republicans voted against the opportunity to debate and vote on this critical measure for constitutional equality for women.
But while this vote may have failed, it’s no reason to lose hope—Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) stated his intention, as the vote came down, to bring the resolution back to the floor. “This issue is too important, and we’re not giving up,” he said.
Feminist leaders and advocates aren’t giving up either. In a press conference immediately after the vote, Zakiya Thomas, president of the ERA coalition, said that the U.S. is “the closest we’ve ever been to seeing full equality recognized and equal rights in the Constitution.”
“One thing about those of us who fight for equal opportunity, equal rights, gender protections, all of that, is that we don’t give up, we don’t give in,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) at the press conference.
The urgency to pass the ERA was again evident when the Supreme Court heard arguments in Counterman v. Colorado earlier this week. The conservatives on the Court demonstrated a willingness to protect harassers—and a desire to dangerously increase the threshold for speech that counts as a “true threat” at the expense of abuse victims. Showing contempt for victims, Justice Thomas lamented society’s “hypersensitivity” as the real problem, rather than the stalking that is at issue in the case.
As Ms. contributor Michelle Onello reports, “The Court seems inclined to ignore the collateral damage of protecting harassers to make a broader political point, buttressing the argument that the Court has become an overtly political institution hostile to women.”
And finally in an open letter to United Nations leadership this week, Afghan women leaders called on intergovernmental groups to not recognize the Taliban as official leaders of Afghanistan. They remind us that the fight for full equal rights is a global one—and one that will only be achieved with determination, persistence, and solidarity across all borders.
Onward,
