“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
That’s it.
Plain and simple, the text of the Equal Rights Amendment put forth that everyone should be guaranteed equality under the law regardless of sex. When it was first introduced in the early 20th century by Alice Paul and other prominent suffragettes, it was considered more outrageous and radical, thus in its early days it was not something that was expected by many to be passed. The deadline to ratify the ERA came and went in 1982, with the amendment failing to pass. Since then, little progress has been made to get such an amendment passed.
To put it simply, women in the United States are still not equal in the eyes of the law over a century after it was initially introduced. That, my friends, is why I need feminism.
Posted December 1, 2016