To the Editor:
In our current day and age, when women fill the halls of Congress and hold leadership positions, from Speaker of the House to Vice President of the United States, it is ironic that women still do not have equal freedom.
It’s been 101 years since the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote.
It’s been 98 years since the Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced in Congress.
It’s been 49 years since the ERA was passed by Congress.
And it’s been one year since the ERA was ratified by the required 38 states.
But the Equal Rights Amendment still needs to be added to the Constitution.
This year, after a century in the making, the ERA is closer than ever to taking its rightful place in the supreme law of our nation. What stands in our way is an arbitrary, ambiguous and legally questionable deadline for enactment imposed on the ERA at its passage.
We need the ERA because our nation must close the book once and for all on the idea that equality of rights is a debatable issue. Because a constitution is not only a set of legal protections: it is a proclamation of a nation’s values.
As March, 2021, “Women’s History Month” comes to a close, make a commitment to SUPPORT FINAL ADOPTION of the ERA AMENDMENT. What a celebration we could have in 2022!
League of Women Voters The Villages/Tri-county
