The Equal Rights

Amendment
By: Loreto Malinowski
Jenny Hsu
Outline
● Background
● History Timeline
● The Leaders
● Social Movement
● Current Progress
● Obstacles
What is the amendment?
● 1923, Lucretia Mott Amendment
○ “Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and everyplace subject to its
jurisdiction”.
○ Introduced in Congress the same year
● In the early 1940s
○ The Republican and Democratic parties added support from their political platforms
● 20 years later…
○ The ERA was rewritten
○ Newly dubbed the “Alice Paul Amendment”
○ Stated
■ Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on
account of sex.
● Later passed the Senate and the House of Representatives
○ On March 22nd, 1972, the proposed amendment was sent for ratification by the states
○ A seven year deadline was set in place for the process.
 ERA Timeline
1923 1960s 1971 1972

Rise of ❏ reintroduced by U.S. approved by the U.S. Senate on

First proposed by the National
Representative Martha March 22
Woman’s political party women
movement Griffiths (D-Michigan)
(Alice Paul & Crystal Eastman)
❏ approved by the U.S. *deadline set on March 22, 1979
House of
Representatives on
October 12
ERA Timeline
1977 1970s 1979 1980

received 35 of the Phyllis Schlafly 5 states rescind Republican Party

necessary 38 state mobilized conservative their initial amend to end its
ratifications women in opposition Ratification before
support for the
the deadline
(recission ERA
*Hawaii was the first to
questionable)
ratify(1972), followed by
30 other states within
the year Nebraska
Tennessee
Idaho
Kentucky
South Dakota
ERA progress
● 2017 Neveda ratification
● 2018 Illinois followed suit
● 2019 Jan
Virginia voted to ratify the
amendment, but the state
House killed its progress
The Leaders
Bella Abzug (1920-98)
● Helped organize:
○ Women Strike for Peace
○ National Women’s Political
Caucus
● Lawyer from Columbia University
● Won an HoR seat, 1971
○ Objected to Vietnam war
Betty Friedan (1921-2006)
● Co-Founder of National
Organization for Women
● Wrote the book The Feminine
Mystique
● Fought for abortion rights in
1969
Gloria Steinem (1934-)
● Helped organize:
○ National Women’s
Political Caucus
● Majored in Government Studies
while in college
● Believed that having a strong
image was useful in creating
change
 Obstacles
● STOP ERA (Stop Taking Out Privileges)
- Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum, the right wing of the Republican Party

● Reason:
reversal in gender roles
same-sex marriages
women in combat
taxpayer-funded abortions From The ERA
unisex bathrooms
remove laws that depend on gender to define a sex crime
hurt families and eliminate Social Security benefits for widows and homemakers

https://www.thoughtco.com/stop-equal-rights-amendment-3528861
“is that it teaches women to be victims, that
they are victims of the patriarchy. And I
think that’s ridiculous. I think American
women are the most fortunate class of
people who ever lived on the face of the
earth.”
Phyllis Schlafly
Questions?
● Do we still need ERA? Why?
● Why does there continue to be a group of people against the ERA?
Sources
● History.com
○ ERA
○ Bella Abzug
○ Betty Friedan
○ Gloria Steinem
● Equal Rights Amendment Organization
● New York Times Gender
● NYT Gender Instagram
● STOP ERA