Women's Equality Day and the ERA

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WHAT IS THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT?

Did you know that 85% of UN Member States in the world have constitutions that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and/or gender. The United States is not one of them.

For more than a century, feminists have realized that this omission presents a major barrier to achieving true gender equality in the United States and that’s why Alice Paul drafted the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1923:

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.

But despite meeting all constitutional requirements necessary to become the 28th amendment, including ratification by 38 states, the ERA has yet to be added to the United States Constitution.

Why #WeNeedTheERA 

Incorporating the ERA would embed the bedrock principle of sex and gender equality into the most important legal document in the United States. At a time when women’s rights are under severe attack, the ERA would both shield existing rights from political winds as well as help expand protections and liberties for all women, girls, and other marginalized genders. Find out more about their 'I Need The ERA Because' campaign here.

Specifically, the ERA would make sex a “suspect classification” like race, religion, and national origin and require cases of sex discrimination to undergo “strict scrutiny.” Strict scrutiny is the highest level of justification in the US legal system and would recognize and raise sex equality to status of a fundamental right and categorize sex as a “protected class.” 

Legislatively, the ERA would empower and embolden Congress to pass federal laws that address systemic gender discrimination and inequality, leveling the playing field for women, especially women of color and other historically marginalized groups.

ERA Yes Earrings, made from 25% recycled acrylic and ERA Yes Brooch, made from 100% recycled acrylic.

Wear your heart on your sleeve with Tatty Devine X Equality Now campaign jewellery with £3.75/$5 per piece sold donated to support Equality Now as they work to actively change restrictive laws. Discover more feminist jewellery this way and join the action with our organic cotton Equality Now t-shirts, as seen in Grazia, Marie Claire, and You Magazine right now.