12/27/2023 0 Comments Equal rightThe difference is important. For example, although women have the right to vote and run for office, women are underrepresented in government in most democracies in the world. It’s long past time.” #EmbraceEquityįor the past 20+ years, the United Nations has designated a theme for each IWD, and this year the theme is “ Embrace Equity.” It presents a valuable opportunity to talk about the difference between “equality” and “equity,” two terms that are often used interchangeably, but don’t actually mean the same thing. “I’m dismayed that in 2023 that we still have to fight to be seen as full citizens,” Pressley told ABC News, “given the contributions of women as defenders of our democracy and all of the contributions we make to civic life and to our economy. In a joint statement, they said that the amendment will serve as “a new tool-for Congress, for federal agencies, and in the courts-to advance equality in the fields of workforce and pay, pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment and violence, reproductive autonomy, and protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.” Ben Cardin (D-Md.) led their colleagues in unveiling a bipartisan resolution affirming the ratification of the ERA. “It has never been more clear that we need those protections to prevent further roll back of our rights it’s past time that we acknowledge that the Equal Rights Amendment is valid and enforceable today.”Įarlier this year, Rep. ![]() “More than 70 percent of Americans think we already have sex equality in our Constitution - but even after 100 years of struggle, we don’t,” Zakiya Thomas, president and CEO of the ERA Coalition and Fund for Women’s Equality, recently told Ms. That remains to be seen, but in a world where 85% of UN members have language in their constitutions that explicitly guarantees equal rights or prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and/or gender, the United States is an outlier. Some legal scholars suggest that the ERA might be used to protect women’s reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Renewed interest in the amendment in state legislatures grew during the #MeToo movement, with women lawmakers and their allies pushing to ratify it in states that failed to do so in the 1970s and 1980s. Congress clearly has the constitutional authority to eliminate the deadlines it previously set for ratification.” Sullivan, “no substitute for an amendment to the Constitution formally guaranteeing sex equality as one of our enduring and foundational principles. founding document that requires gender equality,” said constitutional law scholar Kathleen M. Last week, the Senate held its first hearing on the ERA in 40 years, where a group of bipartisan lawmakers and legal scholars made the case that Congress has the power to lift the deadline. ![]() Several states, including Nevada (2017), Illinois (2018) and Virginia (2020), ratified the ERA after the deadline. The amendment, passed by Congress in 1972 and ratified by the 38 states required by the Constitution, has not been made law because of a technicality in its drafting-namely, a ratification deadline set by that 1972 Congress. Add to that the fact that here in the United States, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)-first drafted and introduced in Congress in 1923!-still hasn’t been formally published as the law of the land. I think we can all agree that it’s more than a little frustrating that more than a century later, women across the world are still demanding equality in many of the same areas. According to the IWD history timeline, “more than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination.” The following year, International Women’s Day (IWD) was observed for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The conference, made up of more than 100 women from 17 countries-including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament)-passed the resolution unanimously. Clara Zetkin, leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany at the time, proposed that there should be an annual holiday in every country to advocate for women’s rights. The next year, a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. The first recorded “Woman’s Day” was observed across the United States on Feb. This article was originally published in Pat Mitchell’s blog and weekly newsletter. (Freda Leinwand / Schlesinger Library | Radcliffe Institute | Harvard University) ![]() An International Women’s Day march in New York City on March 12, 1977.
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