Join our sisters in support of:

– Call for an End to Rape as Weapon of War and Violence against Women!
– Over 1,000 women raped per month in the Congo – destroying families!
– Help now at GabkulFoundation.org

– Demand Constitutional Equality for all American Women in the United States!
– Call for Your Legislators and State Govt to Support the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.)!
– See ERA NOW Web Site at http://bit.ly/eranow

– Educate Others on the Continuing Plight of “Honor Killings,” Stonings, and Religious Supremacist Hate and Violence against Women!
– DVD of “The Stoning of Soraya M” on March 9!
– Find Out More at RealCourage.org

Share our flier with others!

We will be addressing challenges to women’s rights issues around the world, including violence and hate against women in the United States and the world, the crimes against women in the Congo, the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) still not ratified in the United States to ensure Constitutional equality for women in America, religious supremacist oppression of women around the world, honor killings and stonings of women, and Communist oppression of women in China.

Washington DC's Georgetown: Corner of Wisconsin and M Streets NW

Logistics for Georgetown Public Awareness Event
– Georgetown Site – 1201 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, DC 20007-3221 – in front of PNC Bank (aka Farmers and Mechanics)
– (Note PNC Bank: closes Saturday at 4:00)
– click on link for “street view”
– Transportation by Car: There is a Colonial Parking Lot at 3222 M St. NW – Shops at Georgetown Park — allow plenty of time for parking, or prepare to be “dropped off” – don’t count on any streetside parking.  The lot is essentially half a block away (north) from PNC Bank event location
– Transportation by Subway: Good 15-20 minute walk. Take subway to Foggy Bottom Metro Stop (same stop we used for April 4 Lincoln Memorial rally)

Walking Directions from Foggy Bottom (click for map)

1. Exit station through FOGGY BOTTOM METRO STATION entrance.
2. Walk approx. 1 block N on 23rd St NW.
3. Turn left on Washington Circle NW.
4. Walk approx. 1 block W on Washington Circle NW.
5. Bear left on Pennsylvania Ave NW.
6. Walk approx. 4 blocks NW on Pennsylvania Ave NW.
7. Bear left on M St NW.
8. Walk approx. 3 blocks W on M St NW.

Date:Sunday, March 7, 2010

Time: 1:30pm – 4:30pm

Location: Central Rappahannock Library, 1201 Caroline St., Fredericksburg, VA 22401

If you are a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and would like to help with efforts in Virginia to get the ERA ratified, please plan on attending this important meeting! We will be discussing strategy and efforts needed to achieve ratification.

Help us expand the ERA network by passing the word to your friends and groups that may be interested in participating. Please invite your Facebook friends to the event and share the link.

Everyone who supports the ERA is welcome to attend.

Let’s make 2010 a turning point for women’s rights in Virginia. Together, we truly can make a difference!

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This event is sponsored by Virginia NOW. Diana Egozcue is the point of contact and can be reached at 540-286-3775 or dclj@comcast.net for further information.

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NYS Senate to Vote on Equal Rights Amendment to NY Constitution

Urgent! WE NEED YOU to take action immediately!

Today, we at NOW-NYS learned that, in a few days, Senate Bill #3489 (the NYS Equal Rights Amendment) is coming up for a vote on the NYS Senate floor. The legislation “provides that no person shall, because of sex, be subjected to any discrimination in his or her civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the State.” In short, the bill bans gender-based civil rights discrimination.

For the past four years, I, as NOW-NYS President, have been lobbying for this measure. Now, there’s a very real chance to make it happen. But we need to get out the vote for this bill.

Once the bill passes the Senate, it will then go to the NYS Assembly, where it will be up to Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein (D), to allow this legislation onto the floor.

However, this is not an ordinary bill but a Constitutional Amendment, whose passage in New York is a multi-step and multi-year process wherein: 1) the Legislature introduces a bill, 2) the Attorney General approves the bill, 3) the Senate and Assembly must pass the bill by a majority before the end of a two-year legislative session.

Then: 4) after the election, at the start of the next two-year legislative session, the Constitutional Amendment must age for three months before the Legislature can vote on it ONCE AGAIN. And: 5) assuming legislative passage, the Amendment must finally be approved by the voters.

So this is the very first step in getting our NYS Equal Rights Amendment. But an important step it is! And to get this very big ball rolling WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Take Action now by contacting your Senator. Urge her or him to vote for Senate Bill #3489. It’s time for New York State to make sure women are protected by the New York State Constitution!

NOW-NYS President Marcia Pappas [Info@nownys.org]

Some battles for woman suffrage were won state-by-state by the early 20th century. Alice Paul and the National Women’s Party began using more radical tactics to work for a federal suffrage amendment to the Constitution: picketing the White House, staging large suffrage marches and demonstrations, going to jail. Thousands of ordinary women took part in these — a family legend is that my grandmother was one of a number of women who chained themselves to a courthouse door in Minneapolis during this period.

In 1913, Paul led a march of eight thousand participants on President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration day. (Half a million spectators watched; two hundred were injured in the violence that broke out.) During Wilson’s second inaugural in 1917, Paul led a march around the White House.

Opposed by a well-organized and well-funded anti-suffrage movement which argued that most women really didn’t want the vote, and they were probably not qualified to exercise it anyway, women also used humor as a tactic. In 1915,

The key in this struggle for women’s equality remains consistency.

We cannot decide that women’s equality matters in some parts of the world, but not in others. Human equality is a universal human right – it applies everywhere and to everyone. We also cannot decide that we oppose women’s equality because we may not like some of the decisions some women may make if they have equality. Human equality is a universal human right – whether we like the decisions some people make as equal human beings is never an argument against equality itself.

Our hope for women’s equality lies in building communities that are willing to share our love for our fellow human beings, as well as share a consistent commitment to equality and liberty for women – in America and around the world.

Equality for Women Must Be Constitutionally Guaranteed in America

On August 26, 2009, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) will be remembering “Women’s Equality Day” with a public awareness event on women’s equality at Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza. Women’s Equality Day commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, the Women’s Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave U.S. women full voting rights in 1920. But nearly 90 years later, it remains a disgrace that women have not yet been given full Constitutional equality, and that must change. In the United States, we must declare unequivocally and without reservation in our Constitution that all men AND women are equal under our national law.

Such fundamental issues of women’s equality must be not the choice of “interpretations” by state governments and changing legislatures, but must be a unequivocal, Constitutional right for all American women. Such human equality is fundamental to America’s very identity as a nation, and it is a universal human right.

Therefore, it is past time for the United States government to pass and endorse the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) to guarantee such Constitutional equality for women. Every day, women in our armed forces (over 200,000) and other branches of our government work to defend a Constitution of the United States, where their inherent equality is not guaranteed. The women of America deserve better and it is our responsibility to ensure their full Constitutional equality.

To those of you unfamiliar with the Equal Rights Amendment, I urge you to read what it actually states. It states that: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”

The Equal Rights Amendment’s wording reflects the Constitutional language of the 19th Amendment which states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

Some will continue to make arguments that such U.S. Constitutional equality for women should not be supported through the Equal Rights Amendment because they are concerned about the impacts of such an amendment on American society. We have heard this before. Arguments against a Constitutional amendment on women’s rights as a threat to American “civilization” have been made many times – as they were against the 19th Amendment to the Constitution – giving American women the right to vote.

Those who sought to deny women the right to vote claimed that the 19th Amendment would lead to war, would undermine America’s national security, would create “mental disorder” in women, would lead to voter fraud by women, and would undoubtedly threaten women’s health as they were too “fragile” to vote. Those who sought to deny women the right to vote claimed that the 19th Amendment “would produce a nation of transvestites,” and would result in the “resignation of manhood.” Despite the claims of those who opposed the 19th Amendment, America commemorates Women’s Equality Day on August 26, remembering those American legislators and states that had the courage of their convictions to act and ensure women the right to vote through the 19th Amendment, which was finally ratified on August 18, 1920.

It is past time to complete the unfinished business on women’s Constitutional equality in America. The 19th Amendment was first ratified by Illinois, yet the Equal Rights Amendment has still not been ratified by Illinois and 14 other states today, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. Women’s equality is a universal human right, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United States joined in adopting as part of the United Nations.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically recognizes “equal rights of men and women.”  In recognition of these universal human rights, we urge our fellow Americans to support the Equal Rights Amendment. We ask President Obama to ask his fellow citizens in Illinois and around the country, when will they ratify the Equal Rights Amendment? In the interim, we urge President Obama to show historic initiative by declaring an Executive Order recognizing the equality of women in America.

In our generational defiance of the misogynist hate against women around the world, America cannot afford to allow any exceptions, starting at home.  We cannot allow the continuing failure to have Constitutional equality of women in America as a rationalization to justify oppression of women in America or anywhere in the world.

A Global Defiance Against Misogyny – No Exceptions, No Excuses, No Rationalizations

Of all the forms of institutionalized hate that our society faces today, none is more self-destructive to the continuing survival of the fabric of humanity than the hatred of women, or misogyny.

Yet we see increasing misogynist murders, violence, hate, oppression, and intolerance growing around the world.  It is our responsibility to consistently and unceasingly defy such hate and violence against women.  We cannot leave such a world of misogyny as the legacy of our generation to our daughters, sisters, and women of the world.

If we continue to expect the least from others regarding hate and violence against women, that is precisely what we will get.  It is time to stop expecting the least from others in America and around the world regarding misogyny, and start demanding the most in terms of consistent equality, freedom, and respect for women.

How do we change public attitudes on misogyny?  We start with ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our cities, our nation, and then reach out towards the rest of the world.  We start by expecting equality for women in the workplace, in our Constitution, in our government, and in society.  We start by rejecting the idea that women are second-class citizens or second-class human beings in America or anywhere in the world.   We consciously choose a global defiance against misogynist hate – no exceptions, no excuses, and no rationalizations.  We recognize misogynist activities as precisely what they are – hate crimes.

We need to set a new standard of public rejection of misogyny as something that is always unacceptable, just as racism and any other form of institutionalized hate is always unacceptable.  In the United States, our national priorities, funding, and programs must be geared to promote equality for women and to consistently defy misogyny.

In our foreign relations, we must show a zero tolerance for misogyny, especially institutionalized misogyny.  Those nations whose leaders and governments tolerate or support hate and violence against women are rogue nations that are not, will not, and must not ever be viewed as “allies” of the United States of America.   Terrorism against women is nothing less than a declaration of war against half of humanity itself.

The New York Times recently reported that the “global statistics on the abuse of girls are numbing. It appears that more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of this routine ‘gendercide’ far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.”

U.S. taxpayer dollars and U.S. corporate investment must not reward nations with institutionalized hate against women.  But it does today and that must change.  While some may view such a change as “radical,” our generation must develop a culture that holds equality, freedom, and respect towards women as a basic standard of civilized human behavior.  We cannot continue to look the other way as women are murdered, mutilated, raped, and oppressed around the world.  We must develop a culture where such equality and liberty is a priority in who and what we are, not just as individuals, not just as a nation, but also in the way we relate politically and economically with the rest of the world.

Our tolerance of the oppression of girls and women in Communist China, in Saudi Arabia, and in too many nations around the world is a legacy that we must change.  In our international relations, too often we have allowed continued support of those nations that practice institutionalized hate against women, with the rationalization that we have had to make the best of bad choices.  But those bad choices set an example of how much misogyny we will tolerate, we will accept, and we will appease.   It sends a very clear message that human rights are not our top priority, and may even be our last priority.  Human rights are never our last priority; they are always are the first priority for humanity.  The dark chapter in our history that has consciously ignored such oppression of the world’s women, while doing business and funding some of the world’s worst oppressors of women’s rights must come to an end, so that we can forward together to bring equality and liberty to women around the world.

Men and women together must recognize that our “standard of living” is only as great as our “standard of human rights.”  It is our standard of human rights that defines whether we are or are not a civilized people.

We can’t buy back the human rights violations of women around the world.  No material creature comforts, momentary pleasure, or economic prosperity will ever justify one moment of inequality, degradation, oppression, or violence against women.  We need to come to the societal realization that we can’t put a price on hate and violence against women.  We need to come to the realization that no productive foreign policy, no productive national security tactic, and no political objectives of free people are ever advanced by ignoring hate and violence against women.

Our Responsibility for Women’s Equality and Liberty

Let us not deny who and what we are collectively.  Collectively, we are the ones that create the governments of the world.  Collectively, we are ones that form the corporations of the world.  Collectively, we are the races, religions, conscience, and nations of the world.  This is not someone else’s responsibility.  This is our responsibility for women’s equality and liberty.  It is our personal responsibility to challenge those who would justify or rationalize hate, violence, and oppression against women.

But if we are not consistent in our defiance against misogyny, then we will simply tell those who hate women that we just don’t tolerate hate against women in SOME instances.  That is the societal change we must affect in our generation.  A zero tolerance policy against misogyny must challenge hate against women consistently and globally.

Without a culture of zero tolerance against misogyny where will our society end up?  Reports from around the world give us a preview of the inhumanity that continues to grow on a daily basis against women.  Misogynist hate seeks to dehumanize women either through acts of war or acts of oppression.

According to V-Day reports on the Congo war, “[a]n estimated 5 million people have died here since 1996, with over 250,000 victims of rape.”  U.S. Department of State Secretary Hillary Clinton recently reported from a trip to the Congo: “Women and girls in particular have been victimized on an unimaginable scale, as sexual and gender-based violence has become a tactic of war and has reached epidemic proportions. Some 1,100 rapes are reported each month, with an average of 36 women and girls raped every day.”  This misogyny against women in Africa includes the use of rape as acts of war by military and terrorist organizations.  Regarding the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations reports that “the Congolese army, security sector personnel, and several armed groups still use sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC. Further, international actors, including UN personnel, have been implicated in perpetrating sexual violence in the DRC.”  While the United States is providing funding for medical care and support for rape victims in the Congo, it must also set expectations for President Kabila to prosecute Congo military involved in such sexual violence, and U.N. Secretary Ban to ensure action against any UN personnel involved in such sexual violence.  The violence in the Congo is linked to violence in Sudan (where a human genocide continues to rage) and Uganda on its borders.  In addition, these rapes are also performed by the Uganda rebel terrorist organization, the “Lords Resistance Army” (LRA).  The LRA terrorist organization claims to seek to create theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments, while murdering and raping other Christians and destroying their churches.  In addition to setting expectations for the Congo and U.N. leaders, we must have a continued commitment against the LRA Ugandan terrorist organization, and Christian organizations must publicly and aggressively reject the actions of the LRA.  The continuing conflicts in the Congo, Uganda, and Sudan must be a priority for Africans, Christians, Muslims and human beings around the world.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been described by one Muslim woman as the “world’s largest prison for women,” but the endless reports of misogynist abuses by government officials and Saudi clerics has not impacted our continuing trade or support for the misogynist government of Saudi Arabia.  Some human rights organizations even continue to seek funding from within Saudi Arabia, while Saudi Arabia continues to refuse to end its segregation and oppression of women and it refuses to end child marriages. Women who have managed to escape outside of Saudi Arabia file for asylum from Saudi Arabia’s misogynist laws, including their fear of being stoned to death.  The Saudi prison state is hardly unique in the Middle East and Asia in terms of oppression of women.  Iran continues to hold women in prison for their religious beliefs, allows raping of women prisoners, and has a long history of oppression and violence against women, including stoning, with women such as Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani awaiting death by stoning.  Across the Middle East, so-called “honor killings” of women are rampant with limited punishment of those who commit such violence, with Syria recently deciding to increase the penalty for murdering of “honor killing” of a woman from 1 year to merely 2 years in prison.  In Iraq, women are not protected as rape victims, and the “honor killing” of an Iraqi woman is punishable by 3-6 months in prison, resulting in the creation of an “underground railroad” for Iraqi women to try to escape. In Afghanistan, the government recently adopted a law permitting starvation of a Shiite Muslim woman if she doesn’t provide sex to her husband, while one cleric in Afghanistan defends marital rape as a “democratic right.” We are told by the news media that women have been prevented from voting due to the absence of segregated voting booths, rationalized by one newspaper as merely “strict cultural norms.” Women continue to live in terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where women are routinely murdered, mutilated, sprayed with acid, and raped based on the rationalization that they deserved to die for committing some “offense” against Islam.  Generations of women have gotten so used to being beaten, abused, and killed, some don’t even know there is anything wrong with it.  The cancer of this misogynist hate has spread from Africa’s Somalia (where a 13 year old girl was stoned to death for the “crime” of being raped, while 1,000 watched) to Europe’s Turkey (where 25 percent of the population approves of “honor killings”).  Furthermore, such “honor killings” and violence against women has spread throughout all of Europe, the United Kingdom, and into the United States of America (Indianapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, Cleveland, Buffalo).   Nor is this violence restricted only to Muslim women, as Christian women in the Middle East and Asia are frequent targets of such hate.  Egyptian Christian women are kidnapped, raped, and forced to convert to Islam.  Pakistani Christian women are tortured, stripped, raped, and burned alive by Muslims in Pakistan.  This global violence against women must be a priority for Muslims, Christians, and human beings around the world.

The consistent denial by world governments on such misogynist threats against women can be seen this week in Russia, where on Monday, August 24, 2009, Reuters reported on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to support Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.  Kadyrov has been denounced by human rights organizations for Chechnya’s history of killings and kidnapping of human rights activists.  Responsible for Equality And Liberty has criticized Kadyrov since our March 2009 protest at the U.S. Capitol on International Women’s Day for his support for “honor killings” of women in Chechnya.   On February 28, 2009, AP reported that “the bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die. Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had ‘loose morals’ and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings.”  On April 7, 2009, Interfax reported that Kadyrov justified murdering women who were “promiscuous.”  Yet Russian Prime Minister Putin openly and publicly supports Ramzan Kadyrov, with no visible outcry from international women’s groups, no denunciations by the U.S. government, and no protests (yet) at the Russian Embassy.  Some view supporting Kadyrov as the best of bad choices.  But if we believe in women’s equality and liberty as a priority, we must always and consistently object to institutionalized and government support of misogyny. Turning a blind eye to hate and violence against women will never ensure security for Russia or any nation.

The magnitude of this problem cannot be effectively communicated in this brief article.  At Responsible for Equality And Liberty’s website on such violence, I was recently asked for the web link on the initial report on Buffalo’s Aasiya Zubair Hassan in mid-February and I discovered that we have 12 pages of headlines on such attacks in the past 6 months alone.  These are more than merely tragic statistics of a continuing horror story of institutionalized misogynist violence against women. Each attack was against a unique and individual girl or woman who was someone’s mother, daughter, sister, and they were loved, special human beings.  But this consistent, global war against women has yet to be prioritized by the national news media.  Such hate crimes against women are not yet a consistent priority of much of the mainstream news media.  This is precisely what we must change in being responsible for women’s equality and liberty.

Empowering Each Other to Stand United for Women’s Equality and Liberty

The problem we face in challenging misogynist hate demands accountability from the governments we elect, and the nations, races, and religious organizations we belong to.  We can bring change to our culture in support of women’s equality and liberty, but we must expect a “standard of human rights” that respects women’s equality, liberty, and dignity from all of the organizations that we are part of as individuals.

Women deserve better than this.  On this Women’s Equality Day, we must resolve to make such hate and violence against women a consistent priority for human rights groups, for women’s groups, and for each other as individuals.

We must remember that our struggle against misogynist hate and violence is based on our love for one another as fellow human beings, and not become desensitized and demoralized to believe that misogynist terrorism is nothing but statistics that we feel hopeless to change.  We must remember who and what we are working for – equality and liberty of women and each other as individual human beings.  But most of all we must work to build communities of love, building relationships with others to share our commitment for equality and liberty for women and each other.  People empower us – people inspire us – and people move us to action.  This is why we must work first in building communities of those who share our love for humanity to organize our efforts and keep working towards defending the human rights of women and all people.

Together, we can be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.

We reached out to many people leaving work to update them on the urgent need to support Constitutional equality for all American women through the Equal Rights Amendment, which states:

“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.”

It is such a fundamental human right and such a simple message that R.E.A.L. was able to publish this on business card size handouts to distribute to the public!

For more information see R.E.A.L. information and postings on Constitution Equality for Women.

YouTube Video of Stills and Video from Individuals at Public Awareness Event

August 26, 2009 DC E.R.A. Public Awareness Event – Women’s Equality Day

[Online photo gallery of photographs of August 26 public awareness event taken by Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)]

August 26, 2009 DC E.R.A. Public Awareness Event – Women’s Equality Day

Freedom Plaza - Washington DC - 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue - site of Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) August 26 Women's Equality Day Rally for the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.)

See also:

ERA would end women’s second-class citizenship – by Carolyn Cook
– “Carolyn Cook is the Washington representative for the ERA Campaign Network”

Women’s Equality – The Global Challenge – by Jeffrey Imm

The text of the Equal Rights Amendment reintroduced on July 21:

“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.”

July 21, 2009 Press Conference - Congresswoman Maloney Announces the Reintroduction of the Equal Rights Amendment

The text of this Joint Resolution is as follows:

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to equal rights for men and women.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:

“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.”

The press conference was held at the House Triangle area near the Capitol and was attended by 30-40 individuals including Congressional leaders, leaders and supporters of women’s rights organizations (including ERA NOW, ERA Campaign Network, National Organization for Women, League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area, Women’s Research & Education Institute, and the National Women’s History Museum.   Jeffrey Imm also attended in support of the E.R.A. on behalf of the Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) organization.

Once this is passed by Congress, the next step is to gain ratification by the states.  Click here for web sites that provide more information and support organizations to continue the fight for ratification of  the Equal Rights Amendment.

The Lincoln Memorial says: “All Men Are Created Equal.”  When will women be equal in the United States Constitution?

Women Deserve Constitutional Equality Today!

The E.R.A. is Ratified in 35 States, but Still to be Ratified in 15 States:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia.

Join Responsible for Equality And Liberty on August 26 at the Freedom Plaza in our public awareness campaign to promote the E.R.A.!

See also:

– Get your own “ERA YES” button

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July 21, 2009

Reps. Maloney, Biggert reintroduce Equal Rights Amendment

WASHINGTON, DC –Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Judy Biggert (R-IL) today reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment in the U.S. House, along with Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and over 50 other original co-sponsors.

“Women have made incredible progress in the past few decades. But laws can change, government regulations can be weakened, and judicial attitudes can shift.  The only way for women to achieve permanent equality in the United States is to write it into the Constitution,” Rep. Maloney said. “These 54 words, when passed by Congress and ratified by 38 states, will make equal rights for women not just a goal to be desired but a constitutional right.”

“Thanks to the work of pioneers like Lucretia Mott and Francis Willard, American women have achieved a level of independence and equality once thought to be unattainable,” said Rep. Biggert.  “This amendment will carry on that tradition by forever enshrining the rights and freedoms of our daughters and granddaughters in the Constitution of the United States.  I’m proud to join Congresswoman Maloney and my other colleagues in this historic effort, and look forward to working with them to protect the basic liberties of women here and around the world.”

“We have long since passed the time when there should be any question that equal rights for women should be enshrined in our nation’s constitution. And, yet, there are still those who believe that simple equality is a radical and dangerous notion. Clearly, we have made extraordinary progress, but our work is not finished.  I am proud to join my New York colleague, Carolyn Maloney, and the many dedicated activists, in the reintroduction of the long overdue Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution,” Rep. Nadler said.

“The time is long overdue for a constitutional guarantee of equality between the sexes. Throughout the history of this country, women have faced systematic and purposeful discrimination.  Women were conspicuously absent from the Constitution when it was drafted more than 200 years ago, and today, women still have no explicit legal guarantee of equal protection. As such, we know the ERA must be ratified to ensure meaningful and lasting equality for all women,” Terry O’Neill, newly-elected President of the National Organization for Women said.

“Although women in the United States have made considerable gains in the last 40 years, we are now lagging behind the rest of the world in closing the gender gap. According to the World Economic Forum, the US ranks 31st of 128 countries overall, but 76th in educational attainment, 36th in health and survival, 69th in political empowerment, and 70th for wage equality for similar work. In the representation of women in our Congress, we rank 71st. Clearly, the US needs an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to help women overcome systemic sex discrimination in our nation,” said Ellie Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority.

“Women deserve equal rights. People might think my generation has forgotten, or doesn’t even know about, the E.R.A. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m proud to stand with the generation that produced the Carolyn Maloneys and Ellie Smeals, and hope our generation can continue to benefit from their efforts, with the implementation of the E.R.A. at last,” said Shannon Lynberg, National Director of the Younger Women’s Task Force.

The ERA was first introduced as the “Lucretia Mott Amendment” at the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the 1848 Seneca Falls “Declaration of Sentiments,” considered the founding of the women’s rights movement in the U.S.  It came closest to ratification in the 1970’s, when 35 states approved it, falling just 3 states short of the two-thirds necessary for a constitutional amendment to be ratified.

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July 19, 2009 - Attendees at Capitol Hill Press Conference Reintroducing the Equal Rights Amendment

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)'s Jeffrey Imm Joins In Support of the E.R.A.

Virginia's Rosemary Storaska Stands Out in Support of the Equal Rights Amendment

Join NOW with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney as she Reintroduces the Women’s Equality Amendment. Take Action! Send an Email to Congress and President Obama to say “YES” to Women’s Equality.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to Reintroduce Women’s Equality Amendment on Capitol Hill

Take Action!

Tell Congress and President Obama and Congess that it’s time!

Did you know that women are not represented in the U.S. Constitution?

Join NOW and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney

as she proudly introduces the

WOMEN’S EQUALITY AMENDMENT

ON CAPITOL HILL!

Tuesday, July 21st, at 10 a.m.

House Triangle

(on the Capitol side of Independence Avenue across from the Rayburn building).

Show your support for putting women’s rights in the U.S. Constitution.

We need as many organizations and individuals as possible to join the Congresswoman on Tuesday to demonstrate the breadth and intensity of our commitment to equal rights.

Please bring signs from your state, your home town, or your organization.

Invite friends and family.

Include your staff and summer interns.

Come watch history being made.

Lend your voice to the fight for women’s rights!

Call of email Congresswoman Maloney and thank her for her leadership: http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_email_form&Itemid=73

Washington Office: 202-225-7944 phone,

Manhattan Office: 212-860-0606 phone

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House Triangle

Located in the grassy triangle on the House side of the Capitol’s East Front, the House Triangle is equipped with a permanent podium for press conferences and shared with accredited television media organizations doing live shots. Members wishing to schedule an event at the Triangle should contact the Gallery for availability.  Participants should be limited due to the modest amount of space. Offices are requested NOT to use sound amplification systems given the Triangle’s proximity to the Capitol and its offices. Non-members are allowed to participate in events as long as a member of Congress sponsors the event and is in attendance.

House Triangle