Equal Rights Amendment

Submitted by ub on

Last week, the State of Illinois became a 37th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA would guarantee women equal rights in the United States Constitution was passed Wednesday that means one more state needs to pass the ERA for it to be included in the US Constitution.

The ERA is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex; it seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of a divorce, property, employment, and other matters.

The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. The amendment was introduced in Congress for the first time in 1921 and has prompted conversations about the meaning of legal equality for women and men ever since.

The ERA in the States. The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972, and sent to the states for ratification. In order to be added to the Constitution, it needed approval by legislatures in three-fourths 38 of the 50 states.

Professor Kimberly Yuracko is the Judd and Mary Morris Leighton law educator at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Her research and teaching interests include antidiscrimination law in employment and gender equity in education.

Professor Yuracko says “Illinois’ ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment is a simple but powerful statement of our state’s and country’s commitment to the full humanity and equal treatment of women and men. It both reflects and asserts our core values.”

Equal Rights Amendment approval comes 36 years after raucous Capitol protests http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-equal-rights-a…

Illinois becomes the 37th state to ratify Equal Rights Amendment https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2018/0531/Illinois-becomes-37th-s…

The Equal Rights Amendment: What you need to know http://wjla.com/news/nation-world/the-equal-rights-amendment-what-you-n…

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