RBG & The Equal Rights Amendment. What you need to know

[Budi]

Under a RW Supreme Court the ERA is up to interpretation, and therefore fragile.

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https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/01/29/479917/equal-rights-amendment-need-know/


The Equal Rights Amendment: What You Need To Know


Historical precedent in the fight for gender equality rooted in the Constitution
Cont...

The modern-day push for the ERA

"Boosted by activism of women’s rights and civil rights advocates, Congress passed the ERA in 1973 and initially gave states until 1979 to ratify it by a three-fourths majority. The deadline was extended to 1982, but the ERA fell three states short of the 38-state threshold. More recently, a groundswell of support for women’s rights led Nevada to ratify the ERA in 2017, followed by Illinois in 2018. In January 2020, Virginia became the historic and crucial 38th state to ratify the ERA.
Pending legal challenges, however, mean the amendment’s future remains uncertain."

Understanding the potential implications
The ERA’s explicit prohibition of sex discrimination could help to sustain or expand critical protections that have been used to challenge a wide range of discriminatory conduct and practices.


Violence Against Women Act
First passed in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)10 is landmark legislation that seeks to combat GBV11 through a basic infrastructure for governmental and community supports for survivors. VAWA has been reauthorized three times—in 2000, 2005, and 2013—but in 2018, the House of Representatives passed with bipartisan support a reauthorization bill that has since stalled in the Senate.
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Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs or activities and, thus, requires schools receiving federal funding to respond to incidents of sexual harassment and assault on their facilities or campuses.
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Pay discrimination
The ERA could enhance existing statutory protections against pay discrimination and bolster individual legal challenges to discriminatory conduct. For example, although the Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibits sex-based pay differences, it includes an affirmative defense framework. More....

Pregnancy discrimination
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) was enacted more than 40 years ago, and while it has enabled more people to continue working—and for longer—while pregnant, it has not ended pregnancy discrimination all together. More...

Reproductive health
Equality means elevating the oppressed to enjoy the same rights and protections as the most privileged. This includes the freedom to make choices about one’s own body.
Foundational rulings protecting reproductive autonomy—including in cases such as Roe v. Wade, which affirmed the constitutional right to access abortion care, as well as Griswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey—have made clear that reproductive autonomy is central to people’s abilities to participate equally in society. More...

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Moreover, the effect of the ERA depends in large part on how it is interpreted and enforced. Constitutional protections against discrimination, and existing statutory protections for that matter, are hollow without vigorous enforcement.
Therefore, in addition to ratifying the ERA, it is essential for the public to hold politicians accountable for the ERA’s promise of gender equality and to push for additional anti-discrimination policies that can reach spheres outside the ERA’s direct influence.
Women and people across the gender spectrum still face myriad challenges—but recognition of their equal rights in the nation’s founding document should not be one of them.

[SheltieLover]

1. K&R!

Ty, Budi & RBG!