The Equal Rights Amendment Essay -- Women Feminism Equality Essays

The Equal Rights A handsdmentEquality of rights nether the law shall non be denied or abridgedby the United States or by some(prenominal) state on account of finish up.In 1923, this statement was admitted to Congress under the Equal RightsAmendment (ERA). The ERA was a proposed amendment to the United StatesConstitution granting come toity between men and women under the law. If the Erawas passed, it would have made unconstitutional any laws that grant one sexdifferent rights than the other. However, in the 1970s, the Era was non passed,and therefore did not become law.The idea for an equal rights amendment first became acknowledged in theearly part of the twentieth century. In 1916, Alice Paul founded the NationalWomens party (NWP), a semipolitical party dedicated to establishing equal rightsfor women. Traditionally, women were viewed as weaker and inferior to men. Thepurpose of the ERA was to prohibit any person from acting on this belief. AlicePaul viewed that equality under the law was the foundation essential to waxequality for women.In November of 1922, the NWP voted to work for a federal amendment thatcould guarantee womens equal rights regardless of legislatures indecisions.The NWP had 400 women lobbying for equality.Despite warm opposition by some women and men, the NWP introduced andEqual Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1923. In order tobecome law, the amendment needed a two-thirds vote in both houses of thecongress of the United States, or a supporting petition of two-thirds of thestate legislatures. Then the amendment would have required ratification bythree-fourths of the states. However, it failed to get the two-thirds massrequired to move onto the states for approval. The proposed amendment alsofailed in following sessions until 1972, when it won a majority vote in Congress.The main objectives of the womens movement included equal remunerate for equalwork, federal support for day-care centers, recognition of lesbia n rights,continued legalization of abortion, and the focus of serious attention on theproblems of rape, wife and child beating, and discrimination against honest-to-goodness andminority women. The ERA would have addressed all of these issues if it werepassed.Had it been adopted, the ERA would have resolved the paradox of anoppressed majorit... ...t giving the Supreme Court and federal agenciespotence to spell out the meaning of equal rights would be risky. Decisionsmade on such a level would be too far removed from the ideas and desires of thepeople. Opponents felt up that equal rights should be dealt with on a local orstate level where legislators can be voted out of position if the people do notlike some of the decisions made.Although the ERA did not pass, all of the actions made by NOW, NWP, andany of the other womens movements, have greatly aided women in their battleagainst sex discrimination in the work place, in educational institutions, andin their roles as wives and moth ers, and finally laid to rest the controversyover protective legislation and equal rights. Like the FourteenthAmendment, we are inclined to forget that the ERA was designed not to changevalues but to modify behavior of mainstream citizens by changing theconstitutional status of a particular group. The ERAs purpose was and is toprovide equality of opportunity through the Constitution and legal system forthose women who want to realize full personal and professional expectationswithin mainstream America.