The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for women. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time. In 1972, it passed both houses of Congress and went to the state legislatures for ratification. The ERA failed to receive the requisite number of ratifications before the final deadline mandated by Congress of June 30, 1982 expired, and so it was not adopted, largely because Phyllis Schlafly mobilized conservatives to oppose ERA.
Read more about Equal Rights Amendment: Text, Three-state Strategy, Subsequent Congressional Action
Famous quotes containing the words equal rights amendment, equal rights, equal, rights and/or amendment:
“I’ll do anything to pass the ERA [Equal Rights Amendment], even if it means wearing babydoll nightgowns and padded bras, if that will make people less afraid.”
—Joan Hackett (1934–1983)
“You can’t protect women without handicapping them in competition with men. If you demand equality you must accept equality. Women can’t have it both ways.”
—Mary Bell-Richards. “Protective Legislation in England,” Equal Rights (October 3, 1925)
“The criminal is quite frequently not equal to his deed: he belittles and slanders it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“[Asserting] important First Amendment rights ... why should [executions] be the one area that is conducted behind closed doors?... Why shouldn’t executions be public?”
—Phil Donahue (b. 1935)