To make gender equality a constitutional right, guaranteeing female citizens would always have the same rights as male citizens.
History/details:
The Equal Rights Amendment, formulated as early as 1923 by the National Women's Party, proposed that "equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Feminist groups in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the National Organization for Women, finally succeeded in getting Congress to pass the amendment as a proposed addition to the US Constitution. It was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification in 1972.
The National Organization for Women continued to be a leading voice in pushing for ratification for the amendment. However, conservative groups, especially led by a woman named Phyllis Schlafly, campaigned against ratification. A key point Schlafly focused on was that women would then be subject to military draft and military combat service in the same way as men. This became the key issue and the Equal Rights Amendment failed to achieve the necessary number of states supporting ratification.
NOW continues to campaign today for the Equal Rights Amendment to be ratified. A current statement on the NOW website says this:
Women are still not guaranteed equal rights under the U.S. Constitution. NOW has made ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) a top priority because equality in pay, job opportunities, political structure, education, health care, including reproductive health care, and education will remain elusive without a guarantee in the U.S. Constitution. An ERA would also make it significantly more difficult to roll back progress on women’s equality: an acute concern in our current political climate. NOW supports an intersectional interpretation of the ERA that uplifts the needs of all women including immigrant women, low-income women, women of color, women with disabilities, and the LGBTQIA+ community.
