Shirley Zeller, BPW/MI Parliamentarian

Member of BPW/USA ERA Task Force

Candidate for Area 4 Representative (be sure to vote on the Web or by your mail ballot which will be sent to you if you are not registered on the BPW/USA Website) 

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It’s Not Just Your Grandmother’s – or your Mother’s – E R A (Equal Rights Amendment)

That’s the topic of one of the workshops being offered in conjunction with the BPW/USA Conference in Atlanta July 23-26.  It’s sponsored by the BPW/USA ERA Task Force, of which I am a member.

Remember the Equal Rights Amendment? 

“Section 1.  Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2.  The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”

So, you’re asking, “Don’t we have other laws in place that make the ERA unnecessary?”

Consider this:

(a)  Title IX is re-debated every year. With an ERA, our tax dollars would not be wasted fighting Title IX!

(b) Lilly Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Robber Co. raises awareness of stronger Equal Pay legislation. With an ERA, this case would never have gone to Supreme Court!

(c) CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women) is still ungratified.  Do women deserve full “human rights”?  The US Senate isn’t sure.

So, why is the ERA still important in 2008?

• State’s Rights come and State’s Rights go, but the Constitution is forever.
• Prevent a rollback of women’s rights by conservative/reactionary political votes
• Promote laws and court decisions that fairly take into account women’s as well as men’s experiences
• Sex discrimination should get the same judicial scrutiny as race discrimination

These are just a few reasons why we still need the ERA.  Go to the workshop in Atlanta during the BPW/USA conference (July 23-26) to hear more details on the Equal Rights Amendment and what we can do to make it a Federal Amendment.

If you can’t go to the workshop, the PowerPoint presentation will be available for state BPWs to use for education.  We will have it available.