A.G. Gancarski
Those who were around in the 1970s remember the ubiquitous ERA YES buttons and bumper stickers promoting the Equal Rights Amendment.
Though the ERA never made it to the U.S. Constitution, as the amendment failed to be ratified by 3/4 of the states by 1982, the ERA will yet again be considered (and likely not passed, if history is a guide) by the Florida Legislature this session.
A concurrent resolution sponsored by Rep. Daisy Baez and Sen. Audrey Gibson in their respective houses was filed on Monday.
Sen. Gibson reminds us that the “ERA has been filed every year hoping for ratification to get to enough states to add the amendment to the Constitution.”
And indeed, it has.
Back in 2013, for example, Arthenia Joyner discussed her filing of the bill.
“Florida women are at the forefront of research, medicine, engineering, law, politics and even military operations overseas – yet without any constitutional protections of their right to equality,” Joyner said in a news release. “In the 10 years I’ve sponsored this bill, I have yet to hear a reasonable explanation for why this state should not ratify the ERA.”
The battle for ERA passage has been tortuous, to be sure.
The indispensable Florida Memory site documents some primary history from the 1970s heyday of the ERA, including a letter from the Jacksonville Coalition for the ERA to Sen. Bruce Smathers.
Despite the passage of time, the arguments ERA proponents raised to Smathers, a Jacksonville Democrat in the tradition of a bygone era, are worthy of note.
“Opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a blow to all Americans who believe that an individual’s rights and responsibilities should not be dependent upon sex or marital status,” the argument went from the Jacksonville Coalition.
“Why is it that men and women are not equally treated in awarding of child custody? Why is it that men and women are not considered equally in promotions? Please help change these inequities. Vote for, speak for, encourage support of the Equal Rights Amendment.”
2 comments
Beverly Geyer
December 21, 2016 at 6:18 pm
What’s next? Will there be any organized action?
Millie Herrera
December 22, 2016 at 12:51 am
It should be a no-brainer, c’mon! I remember when the ERA first passed. I was in 9th grade and my Civics teacher, Sister Patricia, a Dominican nun came in that day and excitedly announced that “from this day forward, women will have equal rights in our country”. How sad that a simple act as is protecting equal rights for women has been denied us for irrelevant and nonsensical reasons. The time is NOW, let’s get this done once and for all. We have only 3 states to ratify. Let’s lead the pack from Florida!!!
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