Sometimes, it’s just plain hard to be a woman. What with the unequal pay, sexual discrimination and constrictive undergarments women have to deal with, the least Congress could do for the American female is pass the Women’s Equality Amendment this legislative season.
The amendment, formerly known as the Equal Rights Amendment, has been nipping at the heels of lawmakers for decades. In some form or another, gender equality legislation has been introduced to Congress in every session since 1923, but finally made headway in 1972. In that year, Democrat Martha W. Griffiths pushed Congress to present a gender equality amendment to the states for ratification. Within seven years, three fourths of states would have to ratify. By 1979, only 35 of the 38 states needed to ratify did.
The amendment was reintroduced to Congress on March 27 and contains the key line that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.” Women who work full-time earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. This language in the U.S. Constitution could be a precedent for Congress to improve gender equality in the workplace. It may lead to federal or state legislation requiring employees to pay for more maternity leave or childcare costs.
Opponents claim that the amendment would actually hurt women’s rights. They claim it means that women would be forced to be drafted, if the draft were to return. In an L.A. Times op-ed, one critic wrote, “It would also give federal courts and the federal government enormous new powers to reinterpret every law that makes a distinction based on gender, such as those related to marriage, divorce and alimony.”
But the law would argue that equal rights could not be denied—it does not mean that women should be treated exactly the same as men, and it doesn’t argue that there aren’t inherent sex differences. Where equality does not exist —women have babies and men do not—laws should be made to compensate for this, for example, with maternity leave.
The ideological implications of the Women’s Equality Amendment are great as well. In the 15th amendment, the Constitution mandates that rights not be denied to American based upon race, yet, no such consideration was ever given to discrimination based upon sex. The Constitution, as the highest law of the land, should codify the fact that the rights of women are crucial.
The Democratic congress should take full advantage of this proposed amendment as a way to reassert the goals and values of the party, but also reach across to get Republican support. After all, no one really wants to see Nancy Pelosi burn her bra.
