5 Quotes that Nail Why We Need the Equal Rights Amendment Now

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Alice Paul, you need to go watch Iron Jawed Angels real quick.

 

Done? Awesome. Welcome back. So, after helping to lead the suffragist movement in the United States, Alice Paul turned her attention to other issues of equality. During the course of her work, she scribed the original text of what came to be known as the Equal Rights Amendment. "Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction." The amendment has since been reworded, but it remains simple:

 

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

 

After decades of campaigning, the amendment passed the U.S. Congress. It was sent to the states for ratification. Thirty states have ratified it, meaning we need eight more states to agree to it before it can become the law of the land. Check out the list. Maybe your congressperson needs to hear from you. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. 

 

Some of our favorite celebrities and politicians have made statements about the ERA, just in case you didn't love them enough as it is.

 

Meryl Streep

 

Jackie Speier

 

 

Chelsea Handler

"You wouldn't think that in 2015, in the United States, women still need to fight for legal equality, but here we are."

 

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

 

Patricia Arquette