In a statement released on December 17th, the Archivist of the United States, Dr. Colleen Shogan, and the Deputy Archivist, William J. Bosanko, clarified their position on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the constitutional process for ratifying amendments. The press release highlighted their legal responsibilities and the current limitations preventing the ERA from being certified as part of the U.S. Constitution.
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment, first proposed in 1923, would guarantee equality of rights under the law for all regardless of sex. The ERA passed Congress in 1972 with the needed two-thirds vote of the U.S. House and Senate. The required three-fourths of the state legislatures then ratified the ERA when Virginia became the 38th state to ratify in 2020. It still has not been added to the Constitution.
Can President Biden Actually Ratify the ERA?
ERA ratification is more legally complicated than the Instagram posts pushing for it make it seem.
If we want the ERA to be ratified, we need Congress to make it happen.
Prop 1 Is About More Than Abortion—It Will Help Caregivers Across New York State
The New York State Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), or Proposal 1 (Prop 1) on the 2024 ballot, will help caregivers in New York. Because women shoulder the burden of unpaid family caregiving responsibilities, the demands of caregiving disproportionately affect women. This disparate impact within the care economy renders the caregiver crisis a critical sex equality issue. As an inclusive, comprehensive and clear sex equality amendment, Prop 1 will offer much-needed support for caregivers across the state.
Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester Could Make History as First Two Black Women to Serve Simultaneously in U.S. Senate
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: Indigenous People’s Day, the New York Equal Rights Amendment, fostering trust in a time of misinformation, Angela Alsobrooks’ and Lisa Blunt Rochester’s campaigns, calls for increased women’s representation in the Sri Lankan parliament, and more.
Kamala Harris and the Political Power of Black Women: The Ms. Q&A with Kimberly Peeler-Allen
As we stand poised to potentially elect our first female president who is also a woman of color, we know this moment builds on a long history of other women and Black women trailblazers who have helped to pave the way.
Kimberly Peeler-Allen is the co-founder of Higher Heights, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to building Black women’s collective political power from the voting booth to elected office. Higher Heights has helped drive the national narrative about the power of Black women voters and has inspired countless Black women to step into their power whether as voters, activists or elected leaders. We discussed what it would mean to elect our first woman president who is multi-racial, why it is important to elevate Black women’s leadership, what issues are mobilizing Black women in this election, what biases and barriers women candidates face, the significance of the ERA on the ballot in New York and more.
Explainer on Proposal 1, the New York Equal Rights Amendment on the Ballot
A New York ballot measure to create constitutional protections for abortion and create explicit protections for people who experience discrimination, passed overwhelmingly on Tuesday.
How will the New York ERA change the state Constitution? How can the New York ERA address structural and systemic discrimination? Will the New York ERA protect reproductive rights? Will the New York ERA undermine or weaken parental rights?
Do You Remember the First Time You Voted?
The first year I could vote, the choices for president were Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater or the incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson. LBJ won—the largest landslide in U.S. history. Voting for him as a first-time voter felt consequential.
This year, I’ll be voting with two very special first-time voters: my twin granddaughters, in the swing state of Georgia. Our daughters’ and granddaughters’ future is in danger.
Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: It Will Take 137 Years to Lift All Women Out of Poverty; U.S. Women Still Waiting for Equal Protection Under Law
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: At current rates, it will take 137 years to lift all women and girls out of poverty; Fannie Lou Hamer’s legacy; women make up 53 percent of voters, yet their rights remain vulnerable without the Equal Rights Amendment; and more.
This Constitution Week, a Reminder That Women Still Aren’t in Our Nation’s Founding Document
Smack dab in the middle of “Constitution Week”—beginning Sept. 17 and ending Sept. 23 each year—it’s ironic that, with the exception of the right to vote, American women are left out of our Constitution.
Although the ERA has been ratified by the required three-quarters of the states and all that remains is for Congress to pass a simple resolution directing it be placed in the Constitution, politicians continue to block its placement with political games. Every woman in America deserves to have her rights enshrined in the Constitution—not left vulnerable to the whims of a changing political landscape.
Celebrating Women Who Aren’t Afraid to Take the Lead
Just days after Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic party’s official nomination, Gloria Feldt—former Planned Parenthood president and longtime women’s rights activist—convened the 10th annual Take the Lead Conference in Washington, D.C., on Women’s Equality Day.
Hopes are high and determination steeled that 2025 will see the first woman president and the ratification of the ERA. For the hundreds of women and dozens of presenters and organizers who took part in the Take the Lead conference, promoting women’s power at every level and in every field has always been essential to the formula for that success.