The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a direct descendant of the 19th Amendment which would guarantee women the same rights and privileges as men. Written by Alice Paul in 1923, the fight to ratify the ERA has been ongoing for the last 97 years.
Women Marching in Suffragette Parade, Washington, DC by U.S. Information Agency. (8/24/1982 - 10/1/1999) (Most Recent), U.S. Information Agency. Press and Publications Service. Visual Services Branch. Photo Library. (1953 - 4/1/1978) (Predecessor), and International Communication Agency. Press and Publications Service. Publications Division. (4/1/1978 - 8/24/1982) (Predecessor)Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
The 19th Amendment: a Brief History
The ratification of the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920, guaranteed women the right to vote and gave a voice to all in American elections. Some of the suffragists who fought tirelessly for women’s right to vote left political life while others continued to fight for social justices. Women politicians took up the causes of the disenfranchised such as the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill in 1922 which failed to pass, the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act in 1921 which did pass, and the introduction of a bill to guarantee full legal equality to men and women, the Equal Rights Amendment, which remains unratified.
Opening reception of the National Women's Conference 1977 (1977-11-19/1977-11-19) by White House Staff PhotographersJimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
Alice Paul & the ERA
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was the brainchild of Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977), a suffragist and key player in the passage of the 19th Amendment. The act, which was authored by Paul in 1923 and introduced by the National Women’s political party, would guarantee absolute equality for men and women throughout the United States and was originally called the “Lucretia Mott Amendment,” after the activist, abolitionist, and social reformer who helped launch the women’s rights movement. Renamed in 1943 as the Equal Rights Amendment, the ERA was introduced in every session of Congress from 1923 until it passed in 1972 when it went to the states for ratification. 22 of the necessary 38 states ratified the amendment the first year. Opposition groups, many of which included women just as they had before the 19th Amendment, began to form, still divided due to race, class, political beliefs, and religious beliefs.