On the recordMarch 16, 2021
I include in the Record a March 16 USA Today opinion piece from activists Dolores Huerta, Carol Jenkins, and Eleanor Smeal titled ``There is no deadline on women's equality. Add the equal rights amendment to the Constitution.'' [From USA TODAY, March 16, 2021] There's No Deadline on Women's Equality. Add the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. (By Dolores Huerta, Carol Jenkins and Eleanor Smeal) For the second time in a century, a global pandemic has occurred at the height of a determined movement to expand women's rights under the U.S. Constitution. The 1918 flu pandemic nearly halted the drive for ratification of the 19th Amendment on women's suffrage. But advocates rallied, lobbied President Woodrow Wilson for support and urged Congress to pass a joint resolution adopting the amendment. That was followed by ratification by the states and final certification in August 1920. Today, the campaign for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment is in the middle of another global pandemic with women losing jobs at a much higher rate than men, especially affecting women of color. In these first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration and during Women's History Month, there is a real opportunity to make constitutional history again with lasting change for women's rights and gender equality by adding the ERA to the Constitution. No rights denied 'on account of sex' Congress approved the ERA in 1972.…
