Update, January 28, 2020: Virginia has now completed its ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. The question of whether the Constitution is actually amended now remains for the courts.[1]
Update, January 30, 2020: There are now lawsuits both in favor of and opposing ratification.[2]
Update, February 11, 2020: Ruth Bader Ginsburg would like to see the Equal Rights Amendment get a fresh start.[3] With the strong qualification that the lawsuits surrounding the ratification process[4] have not yet reached the Supreme Court, this is likely a death knell for the amendment.[5]
My mother had to send me this. Virginia has nearly (formalities remain) ratified the long-stalled Equal Rights Amendment.[6] Until this morning, this story appeared nowhere in my feeds, even on Twitter, all of which remain obsessed with an utterly and disgracefully bogus impeachment[7] and with a mostly annoying and entirely boring food fight between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Which has to say something almost on par with continued Republican opposition to the amendment, an opposition that continues to draw on arguments that seem positively antique.[8]
The battle is far from over. Five states had attempted to rescind their votes to ratify the amendment (it’s not clear that they can do that) and it is far from clear that a ratification so long after the Congressionally-set deadline now can count.[9] Given the current state of the judiciary, and really the state of the country, I can’t be optimistic.
It seems women always have to wait and to struggle for a ludicrously long time. The Declaration of Sentiments asserting equality between men and women emerged from a convention in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19-20, 1848—nearly 172 years ago. Women did not win even the right to vote until the 19th amendment, first introduced in 1868 and 1869, and finally ratified in 1920, 51–52 years later.[10] Something’s up with that, too.
The failure of this political, economic, and social system to recognize or even much care about something so fundamental as equality among human beings is absolutely reprehensible and nothing less than damning.
- [1]Gregory S. Schneider and Laura Vozzella, “Virginia finalizes passage of Equal Rights Amendment, setting stage for legal fight,” Washington Post, January 27, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-expected-to-finalize-passage-of-era-monday-setting-stage-for-legal-fight/2020/01/27/b178265c-4121-11ea-b503-2b077c436617_story.html↩
- [2]Patricia Sullivan, “Herring, other attorneys general file lawsuit demanding ERA ratification,” Washington Post, January 30, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/era-lawsuit-herring/2020/01/30/027eb956-42dc-11ea-aa6a-083d01b3ed18_story.html↩
- [3]Ian Millhiser, “Ruth Bader Ginsburg probably just dealt a fatal blow to the Equal Rights Amendment,” Vox, February 11, 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/2/11/21133029/ruth-bader-ginsburg-equal-rights-amendment-supreme-court↩
- [4]Patricia Sullivan, “Herring, other attorneys general file lawsuit demanding ERA ratification,” Washington Post, January 30, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/era-lawsuit-herring/2020/01/30/027eb956-42dc-11ea-aa6a-083d01b3ed18_story.html↩
- [5]Ian Millhiser, “Ruth Bader Ginsburg probably just dealt a fatal blow to the Equal Rights Amendment,” Vox, February 11, 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/2/11/21133029/ruth-bader-ginsburg-equal-rights-amendment-supreme-court↩
- [6]Gregory S. Schneider, Laura Vozzella, and Patricia Sullivan, “‘A long time to wait’: Virginia passes Equal Rights Amendment in historic vote,” Washington Post, January 15, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/2020/01/15/0475d51a-36f1-11ea-9541-9107303481a4_story.html↩
- [7]David Benfell, “The whiteness of impeachment,” Not Housebroken, December 15, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/15/the-whiteness-of-impeachment/; David Benfell, “The least violent solution,” Not Housebroken, December 16, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/16/the-least-violent-solution/; David Benfell, “The sham (pick your partisan flavor) is on,” Not Housebroken, December 19, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/19/the-sham-pick-your-partisan-flavor-is-on/; David Benfell, “The asterisk,” Not Housebroken, December 21, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/21/the-asterisk/↩
- [8]Gregory S. Schneider, Laura Vozzella, and Patricia Sullivan, “‘A long time to wait’: Virginia passes Equal Rights Amendment in historic vote,” Washington Post, January 15, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/2020/01/15/0475d51a-36f1-11ea-9541-9107303481a4_story.html↩
- [9]Gregory S. Schneider, Laura Vozzella, and Patricia Sullivan, “‘A long time to wait’: Virginia passes Equal Rights Amendment in historic vote,” Washington Post, January 15, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/2020/01/15/0475d51a-36f1-11ea-9541-9107303481a4_story.html↩
- [10]Linda K. Kerber and Jane Sherron de Hart, eds., Women’s America: Refocusing the Past, 6th ed. (New York: Oxford University, 2004).↩