It’s hard to imagine something seemingly so logical was so vehemently opposed at the time, and still is for the most part. With the current state of things; the repeal of Roe v. Wade and all the implications that went with it. The looming presence of Project 2025 and the pronounced step backward for our society that it represents. Listening to this debate as it was originally broadcast as part of Americas Town Meeting by National Public Radio in 1974, you can’t help but wonder what has happened to our society in the 50 years since.
The Equal Rights Amendment is not new – it dates back to 1923. Following its initial introduction, the Equal Rights Amendment was reintroduced in each subsequent Congress, but made little progress. Between 1948 and 1970, chairman Emanuel Celler of the House Judiciary Committee, refused to consider the ERA.
In the early history of the Equal Rights Amendment, middle-class women were largely supportive, while those speaking for the working class were often opposed, arguing that women should hold more domestic responsibility than men and that employed women needed special protections regarding working conditions and employment hours.
With the rise of the women’s movement in the United States during the 1960s, the ERA garnered increasing support, and, after being reintroduced by Representative Martha Griffiths in 1971, it was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on October 12, 1971, and by the U.S. Senate on March 22, 1972, thus submitting the ERA to the state legislatures for ratification, as provided by Article V of the U.S. Constitution.
Congress included a ratification deadline of March 22, 1979, in the proposing clause (preamble) to the resolution in response to opposition from Representative Celler and Senator Sam Ervin. Through 1977, the amendment received 35 of the necessary 38 state ratifications.[a] With wide, bipartisan support (including that of both major political parties, both houses of Congress, and presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter), the ERA seemed destined for ratification until Phyllis Schlafly mobilized conservative women in opposition. These women argued that the ERA would disadvantage housewives, cause women to be drafted into the military and to lose protections such as alimony, and eliminate the expectation that mothers obtain custody over their children in divorce cases. Many labor feminists also opposed the ERA on the basis that it would eliminate protections for women in labor law, though over time more and more unions and labor feminist leaders became supportive.
Five state legislatures (Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, Tennessee, and South Dakota) voted to rescind their Equal Rights Amendment ratifications. The first four rescinded prior to the original March 22, 1979 ratification deadline, while the South Dakota legislature did so by voting to sunset its ratification as of that original deadline. It remains unresolved whether a state can legally revoke its ratification of a federal constitutional amendment. Although New Jersey and Ohio rescinded their ratifications of the 14th Amendment, they were ignored and it was added to the Constitution.
In 1978, Congress passed by simple majorities in each house, and President Carter signed, a joint resolution that extended the ratification deadline to June 30, 1982. No additional state legislatures ratified the Equal Rights Amendment between March 22, 1979, and June 30, 1982, so the validity of that disputed extension was never tested. Since 1978, attempts have been made in Congress to extend or remove the deadline.
In the 2010s, due in part to fourth-wave feminism and the #MeToo movement, there was renewed interest in adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment. In 2017, Nevada became the first state to ratify the ERA after the expiration of the deadlines, and Illinois followed in 2018. In 2020, Virginia’s General Assembly ratified the ERA, claiming to bring the number of ratifications to 38. Experts and advocates have acknowledged the legal uncertainty of the Virginian ratification, due to the expired deadlines and five revocations. In 2023, the Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment was founded by House Democrats.
Debating The Equal Rights Amendment in this 1974 broadcast are Representative Martha Griffiths (who re-introduced the bill in 1971) and Conservative firebrand Phyllis Schlafly. The debate was moderated by noted broadcast journalist John Daly.
Fifty years ago – keep that in mind.
