1. Why can't we use the old ERA?
2. Couldn't an amendment based on sex cover all the issues?
3. Why is the proposed Constitutional Equality Amendment (CEA) so long and complicated?
4. What is the Madison Strategy?
5. Why is standard of review so important?
6. What is disparate impact?
7. Can the CEA ever pass?
8. Will including lesbian and gay rights prevent the Constitutional Equality Amendment from passing?
9. Why do we need an ERA anyway when women already have so many rights?
10. How will the new Constitutional Equality Amendment impact the economic status of women?
11. Since the ERA had strong public support, why didn't the ERA pass?
12. What can I do to make the CEA pass?

1. Why can't we use the old ERA?

ANSWER: The wording of the ERA has already been interpreted and recorded by Congress as meaning very specific things, and constitutional protection likely would be limited to those interpretations. It would not cover reproductive rights or lesbian and gay rights.

2. Couldn't an amendment based on sex cover all the issues?

ANSWER: The short answer is yes. Theoretically, a court could interpret a prohibition against sex discrimination to include the protection of lesbian and gay as well as reproductive rights. However, we have learned not to leave anything to chance. The proposed CEA says explicitly what we want.

3. Why is the proposed Constitutional Equality Amendment (CEA) so long and complicated?

ANSWER: The CEA was constructed to be specific in order not to leave it to Congress or the courts to interpret what it really means. The CEA may seem wordy, but compared to other constitutional amendments it is not really so long. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is three times as long as the CEA. While the CEA may appear complicated, it contains specific directions on how it should be interpreted. (See the "Concepts & Definitions of the CEA" section.)

4. What is the Madison Strategy?

ANSWER: The "Madison Strategy" calls for trying to get the last three states needed to make up the 38 necessary for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and then present it to Congress for certification. Some people believe this strategy will work because in 1992, Congress certified the Madison Amendment (which concerns congressional pay raises) as still viable and therefore considered it ratified when passed by the thirty-eighth state 203 years after its original presentation to the states by Congress.

However, several issues must be addressed when considering this strategy, including, but not limited to, the following: 1) Congress in its original certification gave the ERA only 7 years for passage, then later amended the time limit to 10 years for getting the required 38 states to ratify; no such limit had been attached to the Madison Amendment; 2) the remaining three (3) states necessary to ratify the ERA are among those states which are strongholds of traditionally conservative attitudes toward women's rights and/or are states where a "super" majority of votes are needed to pass, such as Illinois. Even if successful we would end up with an amendment that, according to its history in the Congress, excluded some of the most important features like lesbian and gay rights and a guarantee of reproductive freedom.

5. Why is standard of review so important?

ANSWER: The "standard of review" defines in what manner and how closely and carefully the courts must examine the disputed action (in lawsuits) for its consistency or inconsistency with the requirement of the constitution.

6. What is disparate impact?

ANSWER: "Disparate impact" is a term used to describe the circumstance in which an apparently neutral criterion has a much more negative or exclusionary effect on members of a particular class. Example: paying market wage rates does not classify by category and appears as a neutral standard by which to pay employees. Except that $4.00 to cafeteria workers (mostly women) compared to $8.00 to janitors (mostly men) for comparable jobs creates a disparate impact that hurts and thus, discriminates. Example: a requirement that police officers must be 6 feet tall. Height does not classify by sex on its face but certainly guarantees that very few women will qualify, while a substantially greater number of men will qualify.

7. Can the CEA ever pass?

ANSWER: Yes. But it will require training ourselves and our allies to create a shared understanding of the meaning of the CEA and the need for a constitutional guarantee of equality. It will require a commitment from each NOW member and supporter to provide our individual support until the CEA is ratified and women's constitutional equality is a reality.

8. Will including lesbian and gay rights prevent the Constitutional Equality Amendment from passing?

ANSWER: Society is more accepting of civil rights for lesbians and gays than it has been in the past. As we cultivate support for the CEA, we will be advising the public that equal rights should be guaranteed to all people no matter what their sexual orientation.

Since the ERA did not pass without lesbian/gay rights, perhaps it will pass this time with the inclusion of these rights and the additional activists' support that will result.

9. Why do we need an ERA anyway when women already have so many rights?

ANSWER: Existing laws are not adequate to remedy sex discrimination. Current laws that benefit or protect women can be repealed or diluted at any time -- e.g. affirmative action, reproductive rights. Only a constitutional amendment can invalidate state and federal laws that discriminate against women and prevent states from passing new discriminatory laws. (See the section entitled "Who Needs The ERA?")

10. How will the new Constitutional Equality Amendment impact the economic status of women?

ANSWER: One example of the economic significance of a CEA is that it will make it unconstitutional to pay men and women different wages for the same job or for jobs of comparable worth. Today, white women are paid 74 cents for every dollar men are paid; this statistic is even lower for women of color -- African American women are paid 63 cents and Latina women 55 cents as compared to white men.

11. Since the ERA had strong public support, why didn't the ERA pass?

ANSWER: There are several theories as to why the ERA did not pass. The following are only a few.

A. In 1972, and for the next seven years, 35 states quickly ratified the ERA. In the later years of the campaign, the states that failed to ratify were states where discrimination against women was more traditional and/or we needed "super" majority votes to pass an amendment, such as in Illinois.

B. When it became apparent that a constitutional amendment that would guarantee equal treatment for women was gaining momentum and popular support, major business and insurance interests and those entities that benefit the most economically from sex discrimination lobbied against it using their megadollars and influence.

C. Any major movement for social change takes decades, to become a reality. The campaign to ratify ERA was such a movement. The time limit imposed by Congress was a strategy to defeat the ERA.

12. What can I do to make the CEA pass?

ANSWER: Join NOW and become an activist. Organize, recruit and take action. (See the CEA Action Plan).