Equal Rights Amendment – There is ALWAYS somethinggoing on.

Advocacy –Equal Rights Amendment. Part 1 - “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”

2.  Give Congress the power to force the ERA through legislation.
3.   The amendment takes effect two years after its ratified.

I am placing the 3 statements in my article as #2 stands as the next step with insuring the ERA as our 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The ERA Coalition has been meeting regularly to discuss the latest pertaining to the Equal Rights Amendment.

The discussions always begin with the work that is being done in the respective states. We have learned the following:

Illinois Now – There was a Law Day event held on May 1 at the college of DuPage. Featured was the reading of the Constitution that included the 28th Amendment.-  Our  ERA.  Quite  the  empowering  moment. Maybe we should consider hosting a moment that we read the Constitution to lift up the 28th Amendment.

National ERA Public Education Campaign: The ERA Coalition is ready to launch a national education and public awareness campaign designed to raise the profile of the Equal Rights Amendment as the “law of the land.” The ERA has met the requirements needed in Article 5 for amending the Constitution. It was voted out of the House and Senate and two-thirds vote and ratified by three-fourths of the states.

The campaign name has met with some opposition. It was to be “Correct the Constitution” but with some sponsor opposition, we will most likely read, “Claim the 28th.” They are also looking at the pocket sized Constitution booklets and creating a stamp to be placed in these handbooks with this title. We need to be patient as they wish to make sure that it is ready for distribution.

Congressional Updates: Although a repeat of last month’s news, we have good news to the numbers. The Equal Rights Amendments were introduced in the House and Senate during March-Women’s History Month. Representative Pressley’s bill HJ Resolution 80

dropped on March 24 and now has 164 co-sponsors. (This is higher from the last month’s report.) Her cosponsors are: Madeleine Dean, Sylvia Garcia, Sidney Kamiager-Dove and Jennifer McClellan. We need to help to add more Democrats as well as Republicans with their sponsorships.

Senator Murkowski’s bill SJ Resolution 38 dropped March 25th on Equal Pay Day. Senator Mazie Hirano is the co-lead and co-sponsor. The ERA Congressional Caucus is renewing its work and leadership. Jennifer McClellan is co-chairing with Pressley.

The House and Senate bills share the same name, Establishing the Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. The House is trying to increase their list of names to 213 co-sponsors. Once the House achieves this number, the Senate will be providing their strategy to attain more co-sponsors. Stay tuned.

We need to continue to talk about the ERA and keep it in the conversation/discussion whenever we can. We must keep it “alive” so it doesn’t become forgotten.

Nancy Werner
Advocacy Team ERA Lead
(2022-2026)