2020: A Big Year for the ERA and more to come!

By ERA Coalition

April 07, 2020

Latest News

Donate

The ERA Coalition works with more than 300 state, federal, and grassroots partners to advance the cause of women’s equality in the United States, primarily through adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution and supporting states’ ongoing efforts to ratify the ERA.

Learn More

We are sending you our sincerest hopes that you are weathering this pandemic and the restrictions it has brought to us all. A special meditation for the many who are grieving. Wishes for health, and thanks to our workers on the front lines in all capacities.

What has been exposed are the fault lines in our society: gender, race, wealth, health--and, clearly, access to health care and emergency income. For those who had not been considering how deeply we are separated by these things, here is a test unlike any other in recent history. Let's make a promise to remember what we saw when we're on the other side of this.

2020...so far:

This year has been an extraordinary one for the Equal Rights Amendment! On January 27th, Virginia became the 38th and final state needed for ratification. On February 13th the House of Representatives dissolved the time limit in the introduction of the ERA. These are historic victories in the nearly century-long life of the ERA.

The ERA Coalition is hard at work through it all, now courtesy of Zoom meetings, phone calls, and a thousand or so emails--just like you all.

*The ERA Coalition team hard at work.*
*Top Row (L to R): Carol Jenkins, Katherine Hiraldo, Bettina Hager*
*Bottom Row (L to R): Kate Lauer, Jessica Neuwirth, Marianne Stack*

We have unfinished business:

Getting the Senate to vote on SJ Res 6, the bi-partisan removal of the time limit bill sponsored by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
Supporting the Attorneys General of Nevada, Illinois and Virginia in their suit to force the archivist to complete the ratification. We are working with them on amicus briefs.
Supporting the work in the final 12 un-ratified states as legislatures re-open. We are still hosting our bi-weekly calls with our Lead Organizations and advocates in states to strategize.

Campus ERA Day

Coming up on April 27th, we will host our 4th Annual Campus ERA Day --this year totally virtual. It's a project we do with Hunter College, the Roosevelt Institute for Public Policy and its Grove Fellows. Let us know of any college students who may want to participate; please ask them to fill out the Campus ERA Day interest form.

Our congratulations to Virginia Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, who successfully carried the ERA bill in the House of Delegates this year. She has announced she is running for Governor of Virginia! A major move. The ERA movement continues to deliver leaders to our country.

Our Lead Organization, Generation Ratify, is hosting a digital bootcamp starting on April 13th. Learn how to effectively digitally organize, build community online, and advocate for the ERA during the COVID-19 outbreak.

And, finally, Mrs. America.

Many of you may know that the actor Cate Blanchett has produced and is starring in a multi-part series about anti-ERA activist Phyllis Schlafly. It premiers on FX on Hulu on April 15th and includes dramatic profiles of our board member Gloria Steinem (who has not seen it, was not consulted about it, nor involved in any way), Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm, some of our heroes of the fight for the ERA. While we have not seen any of the episodes, many of the reviews suggest that in the end, the ERA is now the winner.

Let us hope so. We've lost a lot of time, a lot of promise for girls and women in the time since it stalled. This time, equality will win.