On the recordFebruary 12, 2020
In 1970 in this very Chamber the first African American woman elected to Congress, Shirley Chisholm, said: There is an unspoken assumption that women are different. Artificial distinctions between persons must be wiped out of the law. Congresswoman Chisholm was calling for the passage of the equal rights amendment. Fifty years later and a century after securing the right to vote, I stand before you, Madam Speaker, with the same call to action. I stand before you as a Member of the 116th Congress with the greatest proportion of women Members in our history and a female Speaker, but yet as a woman, my rights remain unprotected in the Constitution. The majority of Americans are women, but yet our Constitution does not fully and explicitly include our mothers, daughters, grandmothers, aunts, and neighbors. Our Constitution is not just a founding document. It is a foundational document to equality under the law. It is time to reflect the truths that have become self-evident, that all people are created equal. It is time to pass the equal rights amendment. ____________________
