Women’s Equality Day is celebrated each year on Aug. 26, a date that was picked for its significance in regard to the Nineteenth Amendment. This amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was certified on Aug. 26, 1920. It is claimed that the Nineteenth Amendment granted equality to women, but the women of the 20th century into today will argue against that. From the lower wages that women receive (only 85% of what men received in 2024, according to Pew Research) to the unequal representation of women in leadership positions (Statista states that “as of 2023, women constituted less than 30 percent of the House of Representatives, the Senate, Fortune 500 CEOs, and governors nationwide”), gender equality is something that women are still fighting for.
The passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, or ERA, would be a step towards achieving this equality. A year after the Nineteenth Amendment was enacted, the National Women’s Party announced an amendment to guarantee equal rights between men and women, later known as the ERA. A portion of the amendment reads: “No political, civil, or legal disabilities or inequalities on account of sex or on account of marriage, unless applying equally to both sexes, shall exist within the United States or any territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”
While the amendment was controversial between women’s rights advocates, with some, such as Mary Anderson, saying it didn’t do enough to specifically protect the rights of working women, the National Woman’s Party got the Wisconsin Equal Rights Law passed in 1921 in the state of Wisconsin.
However, after the initial success of the National Women’s Party in Wisconsin, the ERA lost momentum until the late-1900s. A group dubbed the National Organization for Women (NOW) endorsed the ERA, leading to the amendment’s attempted ratification beginning in 1972. By 1977, 35 states had ratified the amendment, just short of the 38 states needed. Needing just 3 more states, the amendment was ratified by Nevada in 2017, Illinois in 2018, and Virginia in 2020, but the March 22, 1979 deadline had been long passed, creating confusion about whether the amendment was adopted to the Constitution.
Without the ERA as an amendment to the Constitution, the progress that women have made towards equality can always be revoked. I encourage you to do your own research about how the ERA can be passed today and the ways in which women can keep the rights so many have fought for and move to gain true equality. Have a happy Women’s Equality Day.
Sienna Cauley
Great Bend