The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed constitutional amendment with a 100-year history that guarantees equality under U.S. law regardless of sex. Though passed decades ago by both the House and Senate, it remains unratified and is therefore not part of the U.S. Constitution. Some would like this to change while others think a more up-to-date version should be introduced. And for many of us the ERA is simply an unknown. To this end we wondered, is the ERA in its current form more relevant to one generation over another? We asked four women from different generations to share their personal perceptions of the ERA—60-plus, 40-plus, 20-plus and a teen registered voter. Though not scientifically admissible, we delight in their responses.

Generational Voices and the Equal Rights Amendment

by Joan Schwarz, Rebecca Patterson, Camila Hernández Flowerman and Geneviève Anex

I am from a middle-class Chicago neighborhood and when younger, was fully unaware of the politics of inequality, having had no civic education at any level. In the 70’s, as a young married woman with a daughter, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and the ERA introduced me to the barriers facing women. I was astounded when I was refused entrance to a graduate program in the 1970’s because I was explicitly told that since I was of child-bearing age, the university did not want to “waste” a spot on me. After encountering other inequities, I became an attorney and a university academic and for the last 35 years, have advocated for women’s rights. More legally comprehensive and focused on gender equality than the 14th Amendment, the ERA would neutralize lingering gender discrimination amongst the states and enforce universal compliance of equality. —Joan I. Schwarz

I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and graduated from Malcolm Shabazz High School in 1994. I moved to Vermont for college and returned to Madison in 2001. I vaguely remember learning about the ERA in American History in 9th grade. I remember that it was about women’s right to vote; then interest died down until the late 60’s and 70’s when it was part of the women’s rights movement. I vaguely remember that people said women would lose rights. I have no idea about the ERA now. I didn’t know that there was controversy right now. Frankly since I have a disability, I worry more about how the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is slowly but surely being gutted. Maybe there should be an amendment that guarantees everyone their rights.  —Rebecca Patterson

I was born and raised primarily in the Bay Area, and I later moved to the Midwest for college. I’m sure that at some point in my elementary or high school years I studied the history of the ERA, but that feels like quite a long time ago now! So, some very uneducated reflections on the concept of the ERA more generally: if the purpose of legal rights is to provide a clear basis for litigation in the event of some transgression of our moral rights, then an amendment which guarantees equal legal rights for all people (whether they are women, nonbinary, men, etc.) is a crucial addition to the Constitution. But of course, merely ratifying the text of such an amendment does not guarantee that the legal protection it extends will actually be respected or enforced equitably. The passage of the ERA is thus necessary, but not sufficient, to guarantee equality for all persons, given the profoundly unjust and inequitable context and history of our nation. —Camila Hernández Flowerman

I was born in Oklahoma, raised in Iowa and Wisconsin and learned about the rights and responsibilities of citizens through my AP Government class at Madison West High School. I am now a sophomore in college in Minnesota. When first asked to share my thoughts on the ERA it took a bit to jog my memory. I know that the ERA was proposed with a specific deadline by which a number of states had to ratify it and the deadline was not met and that more recently there has been a push for ratification past the deadline. I don’t think that the 14th Amendment is sufficient to guarantee equality for men and women. Additionally, although the ERA is closer to being passed, it was originally proposed years ago, so a newer version might be more beneficial to establishing equality today, specifically including gender rather than sex. —Geneviève Anex

Splash photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

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