The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced in Congress in 1923 and was reintroduced every year until its passage in 1972. The proposed constitutional amendment required three-fifths of all states to ratify the amendment before fully implementing the ERA. State legislatures were given until 1979 to ratify the amendment, and Congress later extended the ratification deadline to 1982. By the time the final deadline passed in 1982, 35 states approved the ERA, three states short of ratification.

We have sat on the ERA since then, until NOW began to agitate for Congress to extend the deadline again (Rep. Tom O’Halleran has signed on as co-sponsor).  This will allow the recent adoption by Nevada and any two additional states to complete the Constitutional requirement of a 3/5 vote of the state legislatures to approve an amendment.  Arizona should be one of those 2 remaining states to vote yes.

With this information at hand, the AAUW of Arizona voted last fall to make the adoption of the ERA by the Arizona Legislature a top priority across the state.  Our Legislature Day Feb. 20, 2018 will be dedicated to this effort.  Rep. Pam Powers Hannley will be our featured speaker, along with Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Riva and Rep. Athena Salman offering their views on the need for ERA.  The Speaker of the House has been invited to offer welcoming remarks.

Given the attention paid to the issue of sexual harassment, discrimination, and abuse by the national and state media, our highly visible effort ought to be endorsed by every elected official.  We plan to carry pledge cards for our legislators to sign, promising to vote for the ERA amendment when it is introduced.  Even if you don’t attend, we’ll send cards to each Branch for you to take when you visit your elected representatives to ask for their signature.  We will ask every one of our 90 legislators to pledge or not, and we’ll have the tally for your information before November, 2018.

Harriet H. Young
Public Policy Chair
AAUW of Arizona