NOW and Constitutional Equality

Equality in pay, job opportunities, political structure, social security and education will remain an elusive dream without a guarantee of equality in the U.S. Constitution. The progress we have made—and must continue to make—towards women's equality can be lost at any time because those advances depend on legislation that can be (and has been) weakened or repealed by Congress. Although we did not succeed in ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, winning a constitutional guarantee of equality for women remains one of NOW's top priorities.

General Information:

• History of the ERA
• Who Needs An Equal Rights Amendment? You Do!
• Frequently Asked Questions About the Constitutional Equality Amendment

Latest News:

• New Push for Women's Constitutional Equality (6/07)

Archive

2005

• NOW Cheers Reintroduction of Equal Rights Amendment into Congress (Spring 2005)
• Letter to Rep. Joe Baca Regarding the Alice Paul Congressional Gold Medal Act (pdf) (3/05)
• NOW Cheers Introduction of Equal Rights Amendment; New Opportunity to Gain Constitutional Equality for Women (3/05)

2003

• NOW Welcomes New Opportunity to Gain Constitutional Equality for Women (3/03)

2001

• Feminists Decry Federal Marriage Amendment, Call For Passage of Equal Rights Amendment Instead (7/01)
• NOW Wants an ERA to Protect Women's Reproductive Rights, Privacy and Bodily Integrity (3/01)
• Viewpoint: An Evolving Concept of Equality Benefits Us All (Winter 2001)

1997

• NOW Leader Says Supreme Court Arguments Today Hold No Sure Win for Women's Rights
• NOW Leaders Say Lanier Case Shows Need for Women's Constitutional Equality (1/97)

1996

• Testimony on The 1996 Democratic National Platform to The Platform Committee (8/96)

1995

• Notes for Participants, National Forensic League's Lincoln-Douglas Debate on Feminism and Gender Equality (11/95)
• Working Draft of an Equal Rights Amendment (7/95)
• Conference Forges Bold Equality Amendment Strategy (8/95)
• ERA Summit Report (5/95)

1994

• 21st Century Equal Rights Amendment Effort Begins (1/94)

National NOW Conference Resolutions:

• Toward Constitutional Equality for Women and Girls (2000)
• Constitutional Equality for All Women (1995)