ERA Team By: Nancy Werner
NFBPWC Advocacy Team ERA Lead (2022-2026) 

EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT – Women’s Equality Day – August 24, 2024 from 12:00 to 1:30 Eastern – Hosted by the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Club Advocacy –Equal Rights Amendment. “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex” needs to be placed into our Constitution. While most states have laws prohibiting discrimination of any kind based on sex, proponents of the E.R.A. say laws can be  reversed or eliminated. Having a Constitutional Amendment would cement those rights.  

Women’s Equality Day-August 24, 2024 was an extraordinary event for our organization. Kathy Telban, Ohio,  created this event by finding 3 outstanding speakers on the Equal Rights Amendment. With the help of Emily  VanVleck, our Vice President of Advocacy, and NFBPWC President Barbara Bozeman, it was an informative  and inspiring hour and a half. Let me share some of the highlights with you. 

Women’s Equality Day was established in 1973 to commemorate the certification of the 19^th Amendment to  the Constitution that gave women the right to vote. This year will not only celebrate this historic event again, but educate, agitate, and activate you to push for the full equality by demanding publication of the 28^thAmendment to the Constitution-The Equal Rights Amendment.  

From the right to vote in 1920, through the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in 2020, to demanding  its publication today, women have persisted for over 200 years through three generations for the simple right  to be being treated equally under the law. Not one more year! (I credit Kathy Telban with these 2 paragraphs.) With a panel of experts to guide us, these women led us through the women’s journey to achieve equality. 

Our first speaker was Tina Cassidy, author of Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait. It was in 2016 that she  learned about Women’s Equality Day. She began to research the stories that brought the women’s movement  for the right to vote. She learned that there were 6 states who gave the women the right to vote prior to 1920.  They were Washington, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and California. These states needed peoplepower as to receiving seats in the US House of Representatives. She shared the work of Alice Paul in trying to keep  the suffrage movement in the national news. The Suffrage Procession was held the day before election day  back in 1917. There was the car with 3 women who drove from California to Washington D.C. or the plane  that her good friend, Lucy Burns, flew a banner across many miles of our country. Alice’s plan to have the  Sentinels stand in front of the White House for months in all kinds of weather was brilliant. But Wilson was  not too fond of them and finally had them sent to prison. There their treatment was force feeding. There was  a period of time when Alice was actually placed in a mental institution.  

Tina Cassidy continued with the slogan used by Woodrow Wilson, “Keeping the World Safe for Democracy.”  The women did not care for this slogan and shared their thoughts in high numbers. Well, Wilson had fulfilled  his 2 terms and was considered a lame duck. He changed his mind, and the public was changing their minds,  too. It was on August 26, 1920, when the right to vote was passed and the 19^th Amendment was added to the  Constitution. 

Our second speaker was Wendy J. Murphy JD, author of Ohio Northern University Law Review Article:  Unequal Protection of the Laws for Women is Constitutional Terrorism, so how come Nobody Knows About  it? 

One area that Alice Paul really followed was being nonpartisan in all her decisions about what women should  be following. Alice wrote the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923 and shared it at Seneca Falls that July. She kept  everything low key. We were watching the states place equality into their state Constitutions. But we also  wanted the ERA in our US Constitution. So, we had 35 states that ratified it, but we needed 3 more. In 2012,  the archivist placed in writing that he would do just that if 3 more states passed it. Well, it happened with  Nevada, Illinois and finally Virginia in 2020. As happy as we were, we saw that it did not happen. Not with  Trump and not even with Biden. 

Our plan for the coming weeks to election-give the White House daily calls and share you will not vote for  Harris unless the ERA is signed. We are 170 million strong and this is our time to act. NO VOTE FOR HARRIS  UNLESS YOU PUBLISH THE ERA NOW. 

302-404-0880 President Biden 

301-861-2977 VP Harris 

202-224-3121 Capital Switchboard 

Our third speaker was Kamala Lopez, President and Director of the film, Equal Means Equal. She shared her  ERA educational project with us and how long it took to create so many educational items for us all to use.  The movie is still available to secure and view. It shares the background stories of here and in England as  women in both countries tried to get the vote.  

But, Kamala also shared her journey going from state to state to get the legislatures to listen to her and her  group. In 2018, they visited Arizona at their polling places. Another stop in 2018 was Illinois where they  partnered with other groups and traveled the state in busloads. Their attempt in Missouri was a frightening  experience as Kamala shared they were practically run out of state. Then in 2019, she traveled to Virginia and was greeted with a State Supreme Court ruling about the gerrymandering that was in Virginia. When that was  addressed, it was wonderful to be in Virginia and see the vote taken. 

It was then that the US Congress started to hold a hearing about the ERA. Kamala and her team were there  sharing their views. We just heard that the US Bar Association has shared that the ERA is passed. 

Kamala is promoting the “Final Impact.” She would like us all to take a photo as we talk on the phone and  send it to the following address. https://finalimpact.org. All the information that you need can be found on this site. 

While we are doing that make sure you place the phone numbers for President Biden, VP Harris and the  Capital Switchboard in your phone, and call them every day.  

It was an incredible 90 minutes of information! But for over 50 members, it was the best webinar! As for taping  it, it was but it will be offered only to the attendees. 

Women’s Equality Day will be or was an incredible day for all of us on August 26. Hope you wore your  yellow. We have work to do every day until Election Day. Let’s get busy and start our phone calls. Already I  have the numbers in my phone. We should all be inspired by our 3 panelists. They were tremendous in  knowledge and motivation. Again, a huge thank you to Kathy Telban, Emily VanVleck and Barbara Boseman  for a job done extremely well. 

SIGN4ERA – May I encourage you AGAIN to take the time RIGHT NOW to sign onto this link:  http://www.sign4ERA.org. When you visit this site, there is much information given to you. History of the  current work and why it is so important. We now have 110,000 supporters who have signed the petition. The  number is still climbing. 

Please keep in touch with your Senators using the NFBPWC “One Click.”