Dear John

Gender-based violence (GBV) is both a human rights violation and an everyday reality for millions of people around the world. GBV can take many forms and it includes, but is not limited to: rape, sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, and reproductive coercion. 

Over her lifetime, one in six American women will experience sexual violence. 

Data shows that marginalized communities, such as indigenous women, Black women, and young women will be disproportionately affected and have a harder time seeking and obtaining justice.

Despite the pervasiveness of these crimes in the U.S., state and federal laws are often insufficient, inconsistent, and not systematically enforced, leaving women and girls vulnerable to GBV.

But the Equal Rights Amendment could change that by writing sex equality and the prevention of sex discrimination into the Constitution. 

While there are federal, state, and local laws that prohibit discrimination and seek to prevent GBV, such as the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the ERA would offer greater protection from legal challenges to these good laws.

By enshrining a constitutional guarantee to gender equality into the Constitution, the ERA would also require the Supreme Court to look at cases of GBV through the lens of gender discrimination and apply a higher level of scrutiny. 

Freedom from GBV is essential to equality. 

At Equality Now, we’re working to help make sure the ERA becomes part of the Constitution because equality will never be a reality if people don’t have the protections they need to ensure their physical, mental, and emotional safety and to enjoy their right to live a life free from gender-based violence. 

And you can help. Learn more about how to take action with our partners at The ERA Coalition. Working together, we can finally see gender equality enshrined as a fundamental right in the United States!

In solidarity
 

Jorie Dugan 
Global Legal Advisor, Equality Now

P.S.  Say YES to the Equal Rights Amendment with Tatty Devine's ERA Yes Brooch, a rousing etched and hand-inked motto in support of protection for women and other marginalized genders in the United States Constitution. Now shipping from the US, every purchase supports our work.