ERA

I will actively push for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

The text of the Equal Rights Amendment, as proposed in 1972 by the 92nd Congress, and as published in Volume 86 of U.S. Statutes at Large (Pages 1523-1524), reads as follows:

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.

Ratification of the ERA would:

  • Subject legal claims of gender discrimination to the same strict scrutiny given by courts to allegations of racial discrimination;
  • Allow women to sue for higher wages and other benefits;
  • “[The ERA] provides a legal basis for attack on the most subtle, most pervasive, and most institutionalized form of prejudice that exists. Discrimination against women, solely on the basis of their sex, is so widespread that it seems to many persons normal, natural and right.” — Shirley Chisholm, 1970(1)