Dear John,

Did you know women still aren’t equal under the law? 

It’s not for lack of trying — feminists have been on the front lines fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment, which would guarantee that “equality of rights under the law” cannot be abridged or denied “on account of sex,” since it was first proposed in 1923.

This week, 50 years after the House passed of the ERA and sent it to the states for ratification, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, held a hearing on the final steps needed to enshrine the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In her opening remarks, Maloney underscroed the ERA’s importance: “Today, equal rights can be too easily rolled back depending on the ideological learnings of Supreme Court justices. But Constitutional amendments are permanent.” You can read more from Congresswoman Maloney in her op-ed for Ms.

Georgetown University law professor Victoria Nourse was among those who testified at this week’s hearing. Writing in the fall issue of Ms., Nourse focuses on why the ERA is crucial to ending gender-based violence and sexual assault. She explains how the ERA would enable Congress to restore the section of the Violence Against Women Act that the Supreme Court struck down, which had “allowed survivors a civil rights remedy to sue their assailants for gender-based violence in civil court—to achieve some measure of legal accountability when officials disbelieved the allegations or took no action.” 

Having met all the requirements for adoption of an amendment as set out in Article V of the Constitution, all that remains is for the ERA to be certified and published by the archivist of the United States. But the Trump adminstration blocked the archivist from carrying out this ministerial step. Now, pressure is building on the archivist and the current administration to correct this historic injustice.

Indeed, the ERA has not languished for lack of public support: One recent poll from the AP found that three-quarters of Americans support the ERA, and just 4 percent actively oppose it. Support is bipartisan — 89 percent among Democrats, and 61 percent among Republicans. In our current hyper-partisan climate, this kind of support is hard to find, for any issue.

In the midst of a women’s economic crisis compounded by an overwhelming care crisis, action is more vital than ever. Negotiations on the Build Back Better package continues and feminists are working to ensure funding for child care and early childhood education doesn’t get cut.

We’re reminded that investing in women and in caregiving is a racial justice issue as well as a gender justice issue. This past Thursday marked Latina Equal Pay day. On average, Latinas in the U.S. earn just 57 cents to the white man’s dollar: Why should Latinas have to work 10 months longer than white men to earn the same for the same amount of labor?

In the face of this abysmal gap, New York’s Congressmember Nydia Velásquez and Rosemary Rivera write in Ms. about the importance of structural support. “Investing in child care would also increase the accessibility and affordability of child care for all families, and would have an outsized impact on Latinas mothers in particular, who would see a net increase in their income over the course of their lifetime.”

Whether through the Build Back Better Act or the ERA, women across the country are demending equality. And we’re not going to sit around and wait for it when so much is at stake. Join us in fighting for what is right.

For equality,

Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor