- When do you think the United States
ratified equal rights for women?
- Was it 1970s?
- 42, 44.
- 44.
- Early 70s.
- I believe somewhere in the 1920s.
- Do you think women are equal in the United States?
- No I do not.
- I do, yes.
I know a lot of women who feel equal.
- No.
- No it's not equal, it's not close.
- What amendment states that equality of rights
under the law shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any state on account of sex?
- I believe that's the fourth amendment.
- 16th amendment.
- I would say that's the 25th amendment.
- What if I told you that we never passed
that amendment I read?
- Really?
- No, it can't.
- I'm not surprised.
- Do you think we should have that in the constitution?
- Well, I think it's required.
- I think it's very important.
- I think you guys are gonna gain something
and I think you're gonna lose something.
I think it's like a devil's dagger.
- So basically there's no hope.
It's a lose, lose situation and we're all gonna become
handmaids eventually?
- Basically.
- So all of this talk about ratifying equal rights,
pretty much narrows down to one thing,
the Equal Rights Amendment.
It's an amendment to the constitution
that was first introduced in 1923 by Alice Paul
shortly after women got the right to vote.
It called for women's equality stating that
a quality of rights under the law
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States
or by any state on account of sex.
It failed at the time, but was introduced again
and then kept getting introduced into Congress.
Now it's been introduced in every single
congressional session since 1982.
I mean, that's crazy.
The ERA is like you're really needy ex-boyfriend, Steve,
who texts you every six months just to see
how your mom is doing.
We know that's not what it's about Steve.
Maybe the ERA, like Steve, should just accept its failure
and move on, I mean, women are already equal
according to that guy.
So maybe this is just a bunch of ladies
who've watched a little too much Handmaid's Tale
and have nothing better to do.
To set this straight, I decided to talk
to some professionals to see why the ERA is so important.
So women are already equal?
- Well, that's a complex question.
Are women equal in the eyes of the law?
- [Together] No.
- Are women equal inherently?
Yes.
Our research would show that most people
think that we're already guaranteed equal rights,
actually 80% of people and they're made aware
that we're not and asked if they would support an amendment
to guarantee those rights, actually 94% of people
say they would.
So despite all of the discord that we have
in America right now, people of every demographic,
appear that they would support this.
The problem is, is that people don't know
that we're not guaranteed these rights
and most people under 35 at least
have never heard of the Equal Rights Amendment.
- What are some examples of how women aren't equal?
- Well there's the legal things like pay
and the level of legal scrutiny when they go into courts
with the gender discrimination case.
- Workplace discrimination,
pregnancy discrimination in the workplace,
domestic abuse and violence,
where women just don't have the same legal recourse.
- I couldn't help but notice that we were all white women.
Is this like the early feminism of 1923?
An amendment that only works for white women
while ignoring women of color.
I wanted to find someone who would be able to answer this.
So I got in touch with Carol Jenkins,
an Emmy winning journalist and the founding president
of the Women's Media Center.
- [Woman] Of course I'm a woman of color
so I know many women of color who feel that the ERA
has nothing to do with them.
But I come from a feminist family and one of the reasons
that I am there and I take my granddaughter with me
lobbying on Capital Hill for the bills that
are before Congress is that women of color
need it more desperately than anyone else quite frankly
to make sure that those numbers and pay differences
and access to education and employment.
You know, women are still discriminated against
because of the color of their skin.
So I would say that this ERA
and what we're fighting for now includes everyone.
It includes people of different faiths
and disability, of sexual orientation.
We are working for the inclusion
of everyone in America.
- So it turns out that women aren't totally free
under U.S. law and that women of color
are affected by this the most.
In fact, there's a ton of bills introduced every year
that attempt to limit the freedom that women have
over their bodies.
In 2017, the house passed the American Health Care Act,
which ended Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood.
In 2011 there were 92 provisions
across 24 states that aimed to restrict abortion access.
In July of 2016 the house appropriations committee
passed a bill that eliminated funding
for family planning services, which included things
like breast exams, birth control and PAP tests.
I could go on.
The government continuously introduces
and passes legislation that attempts
to limit women's bodily autonomy,
but why can't they pass the ERA?
This was a question for a lawmaker.
So I decided to reach out to Ted Lieu,
a California congressman who supports the ERA
and who also has fairly good tweets.
- I represent the 33rd Congressional District
in southern California.
I'm a huge supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.
I'm very honored to write an Op-Ed
with Patricia Arquette on the Equal Rights Amendment.
I do everything I can to make sure that
we have equal pay for equal work.
- Most people I've talked to agree that women are equal
or women should be equal and in your Op-Ed
you said that Americans overwhelmingly
support ratification of the ERA
and not many people even realize that the ERA
hasn't been ratified.
If there's so much support for it,
why can't it pass in Congress?
- That's a great question.
My first thought is that they're not rational,
but there are some people who will not vote for it
because they think it's gonna result in too many lawsuits,
so that's sort of the complaint that I hear from folks
who don't wanna vote for it.
So my response to that is that
it's a fear of too much justice.
If there are pay gaps and people are suing
to correct that problem, then to me
that is something we want to encourage.
500 billion dollars a year is how much economist
estimate that women lose in economy
because of this disparity in the wage gap.
- So would you say that women's rights, women's issues
are economic issues?
- Absolutely and it is harming women economically.
It is flat out unfair and it's time
that Congress passes the ERA.
- Why is gender equality a partisan issue?
- So what happens is the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan,
has not agreed to put it up for a vote
and basically the party controlling
the House of Representatives gets to control their agenda
and this is simply not on their agenda
of the current party controlling the house.
- After speaking with Ted Lieu,
I wanted to talk to somebody who opposed the ERA.
I contacted Congressman Duncan Hunter,
Nevada State Senator Becky Harris,
Nevada Assemblywoman Robin Titus
and Maine's State Senator Lisa Keim.
None of them agreed to speak with me,
but I did get in touch with Orlean Koehle.
She's the president of Eagle Forum's California branch.
It's an organization founded by Phyllis Schlafly,
arguably the most infamous opposer of the ERA
in its history.
For Orlean it seemed like the biggest issues of the ERA
were abortion rights it would grant
and that she in herself already felt equal
and that women didn't need more rights.
I looked more into Schlafly's work
and I found a 2007 Op-Ed she wrote for the LA Times.
It stated that while claiming to benefit women
the ERA would actually have taken away
some of women's rights.
The amendment would require women
to be drafted into military combat,
abolish the presumption that the husband
should support his wife and take away
Social Security benefits for wives and widows.
It would also give federal courts
and the federal government enormous new powers
to reinterpret every law that makes a distinction
based on gender, such as those related to marriage,
divorce and alimony.
How would a supporter of the ERA respond to this criticism
that it might actually hurt women and families?
I decided to call back Carol Jenkins to find out.
- [Woman] You know, Phyllis Schlafly had a great deal
of success whipping out this anti-woman spirit,
but she herself lead a very independent free
successful life.
I think a lot of the arguments are (mumbles) now.
Women feel that they can participate in the military
and they do.
I think to put any kind of limit on the capability of women
is to make every girl in America feel less than, diminished.
I think that as women and as men
we need to feel we can support ourselves.
We don't have to rely on our husband's salary
if given the opportunity to get an education
and to participate fully.
- What can the average person do who just learned about this
and wants to ratify equal rights?
- So in addition to calling their members of Congress
as well as U.S. senators, they can write letters
to their editor, they can do social media, that's free.
They can try to run Op-Ed for newspapers.
Just get their voices heard and to amplify their voices
and then to join different organizations
that support the Equal Rights Amendment.
- It's just really an awareness issue
and women can't do this alone.
This is a fight for everyone.
- This is not just a woman issue,
this is an American issue.
- If passing the ERA is something
that seems important to you,
get in touch with your legislators
and urge them to prioritize this bill.
Tweet, Instagram, whatever,
and help spread awareness that women
are still not granted equal rights under U.S. law.
And if you don't support ratifying the ERA,
thank you for watching this long.
I mean sincerely, I'm impressed
that you stayed and watched this long.
I mean, there are so many other things you could watch
and so many other things that like are in line
with your own opinion.
So it's cool that you watched this whole thing
and maybe it didn't change your mind and that's fine.
I mean, you're you.
You do you.
Can we get that light back on?
Ted?
(upbeat music)