﻿-For the women of Virginia and the women of America, the resolution has
finally passed. [applause]
Last January, Virginia became the latest
state to ratify a constitutional amendment that the country has been
fighting about for nearly 100 years: the Equal Rights Amendment. But the
move quickly drew challenges.
-Five Republican attorneys general are
seeking to block an effort to see the Equal Rights Amendment adopted into
the U.S. constitution.
The heart of the E.R.A. is only 24
words. It would bar discrimination on the basis of sex. And the story of its
long, circuitous path illustrates the changing debate in America about
women’s rights.
-The most dramatic step to date in
women's campaign for equal rights.
In 1920, women had just secured the
right to vote.
-Women in Illinois are quick to register
and vote, while energetic suffrage adherents realize their long
campaign is over.
The struggle for suffrage had taken
decades. And the final few years had pushed leaders like Alice Paul, a
founder of the National Woman’s Party, to take radical steps for the cause.
-Ms. Paul, a dramatic campaigner, had gone on a hunger strike earlier in an
effort to force congressional action.
But for Paul, winning the vote was just
the beginning.
-Many states had laws that made it
difficult for married women to work. Uh, if married women worked, they
didn’t necessarily own their own earnings. And they didn’t have the
same rights as husbands and fathers over their own children. So they
thought that if they had a constitutional amendment that made discrimination
against women, uh, illegal and unconstitutional, that would be a huge
step towards women actually being equal in society.
Paul and her collaborators proposed what became known as the Equal
Rights Amendment, and it was first introduced into Congress in 1923. But
the seemingly straightforward idea raised concerns from many of the
women who had worked together for suffrage.
-They were worried that it would wipe out laws that they had worked hard to get
on the books to actually protect women in the workplace.
-America at the turn of the century.
On the assembly line, as in the home, a woman’s work is never done.
Those special protections for women,
like shorter work days, were hard won by progressive reformers like Florence
Kelley, and based on the idea that women, particularly vulnerable to
exploitation, needed to be treated differently. The reformers and labor
unions feared these protections would be undercut by an amendment
guaranteeing equality of the sexes.
-That fear was not unreasonable, because the Supreme Court did strike down
a law that guaranteed minimum
wages for women. They pointed to the fact that women now have the
constitutional right to vote as evidence that sex inequality was on its way out.
But for people like Alice Paul, special labor protections for one gender were
at odds with the idea of equality.
-Well, we kept saying, “But we stand for
equality and your special labor laws are not in harmony with the principle that
we’re standing for.”
It was a debate that would follow the E.R.A. thought time,
as women entered the workforce in increasing numbers.
-Employers find that women can do many jobs as well as men, some jobs better.
And Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party continued to press their
case for the E.R.A. over the next four decades.
-Surrounded by memories of suffragettes, these ladies have pursued
the goal of a fair and equal break for American women.
By the early 1970s, labor opposition to the E.R.A. was receding, in part
because labor protections were expanding for both women and men.
And with growing bipartisan support in Congress, and momentum from the
burgeoning women’s movement…
-Equal rights to have a job, to have respect, to not be viewed as a piece of meat.
...the calls for the E.R.A. wer becoming too powerful to ignore.
-Gradually, instead of a little tiny cluster, we now have 10 million
women backing this particular measure before Congress.
-We will settle for nothing less in the ultimate than equal representation in all
levels of political power. Congresswoman Martha Griffiths had
repeatedly introduced the E.R.A. into the House over the years and finally
succeeded in forcing the amendment onto the floor in 1970, where the broad
backing for the measure soon became clear.
-Once it did get a full debate, well over 90 percent of the House actually voted
for the E.R.A.
-The House today by the overwhelming vote of 354 to 23,
passed a proposed constitutional amendment to guarantee
equal rights for women.
By 1972, both the House and the
Senate had passed the E.R.A.
-The agreement now goes to the states
and must be ratified by 38 of them.
And within one year, 30 states, out of the 38 needed, ratified it.
But then, an opposition movement emerged, led by conservative Phyllis Schlafly.
-The wife has the legal right to be a full-time wife and mother supported by
her husband.
The campaign found a receptive
audience among women concerned about changing gender roles.
-The major objection to the Equal Rights Amendment is that it would take
away from women rights and privileges which they now have.
Schlafly’s push dovetailed with the rise of the powerful religious right, and
E.R.A. proponents were stunned.
-The women here now fear they are
facing an organized enemy, the Moral Majority and conservative groups who
have found a newly powerful voice since the 1980 election.
In the end, the amendment fell three states short when the ratification period
expired in 1982.
-The chimes strike at midnight for
ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. At that moment, the
E.R.A. becomes D.O.A.
But now, over three decades later, as
the number of women in Congress and state houses reaches a record high, a
new generation is reviving the E.R.A.
-There is only one way to spell equality
and that is simply E-R-A.
Women in the Nevada, Illinois and Virginia legislatures are leading the fight.
-In the wake of the #MeToo movement, and the fight for equal pay, the E.R.A.
came back to life.
-What do we want? Equal rights! When do we want it? Now!
-Democrats in Congress are pushing
for its addition to the constitution.
The House of Representatives voted to
remove the 1982 deadline. But Senate Republicans and the Trump
Administration remain opposed. And there’s also the question of the five
states that have tried to rescind their ratifications of the amendment.
-Ongoing litigation makes it unclear when or if it will be added.
Today, a century after the E.R.A. was first conceived, it continues to hang in
limbo. Over the decades, women have made gains through other changes in
laws and policies. But the need for ratification remains for many of the
women at the center of the struggle now, as a way to recognize the work
that’s come before, and to ensure women’s rights going forward.
-When you enshrine my constitutional rights, as a human being equal to men,
well that is the only thing that’s acceptable.
-Persistence, faith, and hope fuel the indomitable spirit of this movement.
We got tired but we did not faint. We became weary but we did not stop.
History demands that we take a stand. The struggle continues and the
work is not done.