You may have forgotten all about the Equal Rights Amendment. Today, let’s remember — we don’t have it.
On June 30, 1982, time ran out.
Here’s a little history in advance of our nation’s 234th birthday:
The Equal Rights Amendment was written by Alice Paul, a women’s suffrage leader, in 1923. It took until 1972 for it to pass both the Senate and House of Representatives. Congress extended an original seven-year-deadline for ratification by the constitutionally required three-fourths of states. That new deadline was 28 years ago today.
By June 30, 1982, only 35 of the needed 38 states had ratified the amendment. Here is the wording not included in the U.S. Constitution:
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
Wow, that’s it? Yes, that is the whole thing.
Today — as the Senate conducts confirmation hearings for a female Supreme Court nominee, as our state has a female governor and two Washington women as U.S. senators, and as women hold four positions in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet — it’s mystifying that legislatures in 15 states did not ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.
Washington is among 22 states that guarantee equal rights on the basis of gender in their constitutions. Washington can also take pride in a 100th anniversary this year.
On Nov. 8, 1910, men in our state turned out at the polls to grant women the right to vote. Washington became the fifth state to enfranchise women. That didn’t happen nationally until the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1920.
At the Snohomish County Courthouse, a display by the Washington Women’s History Consortium celebrates achievements of six women who made great contributions to their communities. Mary Low Sinclair, who was in the Denny party that arrived at Alki Point in 1851, turned part of her Snohomish home into the area’s first classroom in 1866. Hers and other stories in the display show the powerful influence women have had in local history.
Driving home the other day, I spotted signs advertising a “Guy Stuff” garage sale. I couldn’t resist going past the house. There, I saw a motorcycle, a small boat, a table saw, paint cans and other items, none of which lured me to stop. Guy stuff? Don’t bet on that.
In the worlds of work, schooling and leadership, little can be considered exclusively guy stuff anymore.
When the ERA debate raged in the 1970s, concerns were raised over the possibilities of women in warfare. By the early 1990s, the Defense Department had cleared the way for women to fly combat missions. This spring, the U.S. Navy changed its policy to allow women to serve on submarines.
Herald reporter Eric Stevick reported last month that in 2008, women accounted for 54 percent of students in Washington’s public universities, 57 percent at private colleges, and that women are more likely than men to graduate from college. My daughter, born a year after the ERA deadline passed, is a lawyer.
Some would say that so much has been achieved by women, no Equal Rights Amendment is needed.
Still, it’s discouraging. After all this time, our country isn’t united on this basic concept: equality of rights under the law.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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