Before I get into dealing with disappointment, it is reasonable to ask if I remember anything from the time period when there was still a question of whether the Equal Rights Amendment would pass.
The first introduction to Congress was in 1923. No memories there, but it clearly didn't really have momentum at that point. Conflict between different feminists and opposition in Congress meant it rarely even reached the Senate floor, except for once in 1946 when it was defeated.
I think when you say "ERA" people really think of the '70s. That is reasonable, but it is also reasonable to remember that history is always more complicated than what is widely known.
In 1972 (when I was born) the Equal Rights Amendment passed both houses of Congress, which sent it to the individual states for ratification. There was an original ratification deadline set for 1979, later extended to 1982, but the real peak would have been 1977 (when I was 5). By then 35 states had ratified and only 3 more were needed. Instead, some states rescinded their ratifications.
In the states that were still up for grabs, there was probably a lot of buzz. Oregon ratified in February 1973, when I was just barely a year old, so even though the issue was still going on, I don't think I would have heard a lot about it. There are three memories that I believe are related.
One was the Batgirl commercial about equal pay that I linked to in an earlier post. I remember it in the same spot in my mind where I remember commercials encouraging you to get government publications from Pueblo, Colorado.
Two is a vague memory of people at church talking about someone saying something as a man or as a prophet. Later I remember church teachers saying "When you hear people talking about whether someone is speaking as a man or a prophet...", but I think for that first memory it was not hypothetical and it was kind of intense. I don't know how often that particular question comes up, but I have a funny feeling that it could have been about Elder Packer speaking on the Equal Rights Amendment in 1977, though the building I remember being at probably puts the memory in 1978 or '79. Maybe he gave more talks that were similar. It could fit.
(You can read it here: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1977/03/the-equal-rights-amendment?lang=eng I had great affection for Elder Packer, but not for this talk.)
The last memory is "The Liberation of Marcia Brady", episode 19 of Season 2 of "The Brady Bunch". It originally aired February 12th, 1971, almost a full year before I was born, but I remember seeing it sometime before I was 6, because we were still living in Wilsonville.
The episode starts off with a reporter asking high school girls what they think about women's equality, which Marcia finds herself feeling strongly about. Challenged on her stance, she joins the Frontier Scouts and proves her abilities, but then doesn't stick with it because it's yucky boy stuff.
I know that doesn't sound that radical, but I remember being struck by the unfairness of the stereotypes, and that she could do as good as them, and it made me not want to attend a scouting event that was coming up.
I remember it so well because it was an early conflict with my father, and I was wrong and stupid because women weren't as good as men. I don't think he said it quite that succinctly. I don't think it was that time when he gave the example of the woman in the Coast Guard who messed up a rescue, or how letting women be firefighters and police officers messes up the height requirements, but he was always very sure of the legitimacy of the inequality, both when he went to church and after he stopped.
I also know, as someone a bit older and more experienced, that it's bull. There are women who are not physically good matches for the military or fire crews, but there are also men who are not. There is enough variation among either gender to rule out any clear signs of superiority, if you are willing to look at it.
Apparently the best reason to not look at it is an unwillingness to face that you do not have clear superiority, but that you have good points and bad points and strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else. It's more complex, and there's more personal responsibility, but it's also true and that's worth a lot.
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