Today’s Action: Equal rights for women under the United States Constitution

“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Women’s rights advocates have been fighting to add these words for equal rights protections to our Constitution since the 1920’s. And for nearly 100 years, right-wing and corporate interests have successfully kept them out.

That lack of protections has taken a toll, wherein determining sex discrimination is left up to the whimsy of the ever-changing Congress, states, and courts, with a variety of regional results. As Trump and Mitch McConnell stack our judicial system with as many extreme right-wingers as they can, and with everything from abortion to workplace equality on the line, it’s vital for us to lock this language into the law at the highest level in the land…finally.

Call or email your Members of Congress and ask them to cosponsor and pass legislation to restart the process to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (House/Senate) and firmly affirm women’s rights in our country.

The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced in 1923, and only approved by Congress in 1972. But a Constitutional amendment requires state ratification by a three-fourths majority, or 38 states. Currently, only 37 have ratified.

Democrats in both chambers of Congress are moving to re-energize the ratification proceedings. Once ratified, states would be required to address issues like sexual harassment, pregnancy and and motherhood discrimination, and paycheck disparity….finally.

Time to dust off this century-old goal and finally commit to basic human rights.

Email or call (202.224.3121) your Members of Congress and urge them to push for the Equal Rights Amendment and finally give women the protections they deserve. Ask them to cosponsor the legislation to restart the ratification process, if they haven’t done so already (House/Senate)!