The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a basic human rights reform ensuring that, “rights will not be denied or abridged… on account of sex.” It represents 150 years of struggle to afford women equal citizenship stature in our nation’s founding charter.
Yes folks, here in America, women are constitutionally not protected.
The 14th amendment which is supposed to provide all citizens with "equal protection of the laws," does not protect its citizens from violence. The late Supreme court Justice Scalia on an occasion reminded us that the 14th Amendment was not originally intended to extend rights to women, and he also said it should not protect against sex discrimination.
The movement for the ERA has gained renewed momentum in recent years, after ratification by Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia met the 38-state (or 3/4 of states) requirement for a constitutional amendment. Most recently, the House of Representatives passed HJ Res. 17 to remove the deadline for ratification. Our goal is to see its companion bill passed in the Senate in 2021, and for the ERA to become the 28th Amendment this year.
At the end of July, we plan on meeting with key Senators to advocate for their vote for HJ Res.1 17.
I urge religious leaders and organizations to join us in the coalition with Justice Revival and other faith allies alongside the ERA Coalition to rally more visible faith support for the ERA. I hope you’ll consider adding your name to this rapidly growing Interfaith Statement of Support and joining the #Faith4ERA campaign.
In addition to the advocacy in the U.S. on women, LGBTQ+ rights, and against child/forced marriages, we continue to work internationally pushing for women Kadhis on the Kadhi Courts in Kenya, rolling out a women’s rights affirming children’s curriculum in Burundi and our commitment to UN Women’s Generation Equality and the Sustainable Development Goals.
In the last 1.5 years I've been working in Mombasa with our partner organization AMWAN as well as in solidarity with the Chief Kadhi of Kenya, toward formulating a more women's rights compliant sharia law. Our first workshop was implemented 2 weeks ago which also included a module on the need for women Kadhi (judges in the religious court). The Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) have declared the position is fit for women. Others however do not have a problem with a Muslim woman as a judge in the secular court; but listen to this push back should a qualified female judge sit on the sharia court. Please watch the Kenya TV news report!
But, what I am particularly excited about is our San Francisco leaders Sabahat Ashraf and Kevin Mogg, who will start reviewing Muslim scholars writings and the milieu of preachers and talking heads, rating them according to their compliance to MPV’s principles. We hope this will serve the Muslim public well in their search for progressive teachings, by-passing wasted valuable time on dogma and falsehoods.
