Today in Labor History March 22, 1972: U.S. Congress sent the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification. It failed. And to this day, women earn 84% of what men do. One of the exceptions is public education, where teachers’ unions have fought and won the right to collectively bargain salaries based on years of experience, not gender. The first ERA was introduced to Congress in 1923. The 1972 had wide bipartisan support, including by presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter, and seemed destined to pass. However, Phyllis Schlafly mobilized conservative women against the amendment, arguing that it would disadvantage housewives, make them eligible for the draft and cause divorcees to lose custody of their children. This killed the ERA in the 1970s. From 2017-2020, several states have ratified the ERA. However, it is uncertain whether these ratifications are legal, since they occurred after the deadlines. Schlafly went on to become a major player in the anti-abortion and anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ rights movements.
IT’s time to bring back the Equal Rights Amendment. Women are pissed off enough (or should be) to get the thing ratified now. This is a good political moment.
The #ERA#advocate created the model for how a spouse could assume the role of presidential partner.
#Rosalynn#Carter, wife of Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, was one tough customer. History has smoothed her edges so that many recall her, vaguely, as a sweet but sturdy Southern woman—if not a belle, then someone who seemed nice enough but was in no way a world-beater
Registered for this program through the NYPL on the Equal Rights Amendment. I encourage everyone to do so, it is free and will be live streamed so you can attend from anywhere.
why did they spend so many DECADES fighting for the #ERA yet never had a thought once for pivoting for a #UBI?
ESPECIALLY as the BushCo corporatist fascistocracy was intent in legitimizing fringe christofascist cults as part of their effort to give a face to the lie of a “Silent Majority”?
pivoting from the #ERA to #UBI has always been the obvious answer to the lie of “the party of family values”.