The Equal Rights Amendment

I did extra homework for this one.

I felt I should. It was the most recent of the failed amendments, happening during my childhood, though while I heard about I certainly didn't have much understanding of it. It was one the church was specifically against, which I believe I would feel conflicted about. When I feel like I don't know enough, my usual solution is to read.

I read Why We Lost the ERA by Jane Mansbridge. Knowing more, I have more to say, and I think there will be more than one post.

If we start out by focusing on the failure of ratification, there were some interesting factors. One point Mansbridge made was that no controversial amendments had passed for years. Child Labor had organized opposition from factory owners.  So just the fact that there was organized opposition - and enough controversy to provide organized opposition - lowered its chances of ratification.

At the beginning the odds still looked good. It received fairly broad congressional support on the federal level, but then opposition heated up in the states.

Part of the problem was disagreement about what it would mean. Opponents focused on how it would force women into the draft and into combat. Mansbridge makes a pretty solid legal argument for why that would not necessarily be true, but the perception was there.

That might seem like the war was lost on a fairly insignificant battle, but at the same time it was significant. Many states had laws giving veterans preferential treatment in hiring, so military service was a jobs issue. Many women were serving in the military, but the most prestigious assignments, with opportunities for higher pay and advancement, were closed off to them.

Over the years from the beginning of the push for an Equal Rights Amendment to the final defeat, the already existing Equal Protection Clause from the 14th amendment had been being referred to more, and being interpreted more generously, where some of the initial benefits one might expect from the ERA would be seen as already resolved. That's an interesting idea, and next week I want to spend more time on Equal Protection. 

For now, one common focus for proponents was the equal pay issue. That brings us back to the issue of whether you always need an amendment or whether other legislation can suffice, with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, arguing that it can be done without an amendment but making its argument a few decades later.

On that note, I leave you with this ad that I remember from my childhood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is5vIf7nwsU

It's not a joke indeed.