The Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment Essay
What could be more important than the equality of rights for all American citizens? Women have tried without success for 80 years to be acknowledged as equals in our Constitution through an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Currently there is nothing in the United States Constitution that guarantees a woman the same rights as a man. The only equality women have with men is the right to vote. In order to protect women’s rights on the same level as men, I am in favor of an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution today.
There have been many determined women and organizations such as the NASWA and the NWP that have fought long and hard to gain the right to vote. Although it’s been a long battle to get this amendment approved, women today need to keep the fight alive in order to continue to win equality with men on all levels.
The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced to Congress in 1923, shortly after women in the United States were granted the right to vote. The amendment read “Men and Women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and in every place subject to its jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” This amendment was immediately opposed by organizations and labor unions. The Amendment was continually introduced in Congress for the next twenty years with opposition from most conservatives ensuring its repeated defeat.
In the 1930’s the amendment gained sponsorship from the National Association of Women’s Lawyers and the National Federal of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs. By 1940 the Republican Party had placed it on their platform with the Democratic Party following suit in 1944. Alice Paul rewrote the Equal Rights Amendment in 1943 to include the statement “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” During this time the labor movement was still
What could be more important than the equality of rights for all American citizens? Women have tried without success for 80 years to be acknowledged as equals in our Constitution through an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Currently there is nothing in the United States Constitution that guarantees a woman the same rights as a man. The only equality women have with men is the right to vote. In order to protect women’s rights on the same level as men, I am in favor of an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution today.
There have been many determined women and organizations such as the NASWA and the NWP that have fought long and hard to gain the right to vote. Although it’s been a long battle to get this amendment approved, women today need to keep the fight alive in order to continue to win equality with men on all levels.
The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced to Congress in 1923, shortly after women in the United States were granted the right to vote. The amendment read “Men and Women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and in every place subject to its jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” This amendment was immediately opposed by organizations and labor unions. The Amendment was continually introduced in Congress for the next twenty years with opposition from most conservatives ensuring its repeated defeat.
In the 1930’s the amendment gained sponsorship from the National Association of Women’s Lawyers and the National Federal of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs. By 1940 the Republican Party had placed it on their platform with the Democratic Party following suit in 1944. Alice Paul rewrote the Equal Rights Amendment in 1943 to include the statement “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” During this time the labor movement was still