Equal Rights Amendment

The struggle to add an amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing equal rights for women was an important, if ultimately unsuccessful, chapter in the history of the women's movement in the United States. Throughout the history of the United States, as well as of the world, women had always had fewer rights than men. For years, they could not own property or run for elective office. They could not even vote in the United States until 1920. Although the status of women in the United States had gradually improved over time, many glaring inequalities with which they had to suffer still existed. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was an attempt to end those inequalities.

The ERA was first proposed in 1925 by the National Women's Party and introduced into Congress by Alice Paul (1885–1977), the group's president. It was a controversial proposal that did not get far in the legislative process. Part of the controversy centered around what would happen to laws designed to protect women if they must be treated equally under the law. Although the amendment was endorsed by both Democratic and Republican parties in the 1940s, it still went nowhere in Congress. In 1970, U.S. representative Martha Griffiths (1912–) of Michigan reintroduced the amendment. It read simply, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." This time, in 1972, it passed both houses of Congress. For an amendment to be passed and added to the Constitution, however, it must be approved by three-fourths of the states within seven years. At the state level, a fierce debate ensued. Supporters of the ERA argued that women deserved the same rights as men. Opponents of the ERA raised people's fears that equal rights for women meant women in combat, more women in the work-place, and the end to other long-established gender roles. Although thirty-five states approved it, and despite a three-year extension of the time limit, it failed to attract the final votes necessary to pass in 1983. It has been periodically resubmitted to Congress without much success in the years since.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information

Becker, Susan D. The Origins of the Equal Rights Amendment: AmericanFeminism Between the Wars. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982.

"Chronology of the Equal Rights Amendment 1923–1996." NationalOrganization for Women.http://www.now.org/issues/economic/cea/history.html (accessed March 29, 2002).

Evans, Sarah M. Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America. New York: The Free Press, 1989.

National Council of Women's Organizations. The Equal Rights Amendment.http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/ (accessed March 29, 2002).

Rowbotham, Sheila. A Century of Women. New York: Penguin Books, 1999.