Sen. Cardin, Chairwoman Maloney, Congresswoman Speier To Speak at Press Conference
Washington, D.C. –– After nearly a century of work, Thursday, January 27 marks the end of the two-year waiting period for the Equal Rights Amendment to go into effect across the country after meeting all of the constitutional requirements. To commemorate the day, the ERA Coalition and key partners will host a series of events throughout the day charting a path forward.
“January 27 marks the day the Equal Rights Amendment should be in effect, and to commemorate the day, we’re making our voices heard at the White House and calling on the Department of Justice to reverse the previous administration’s improper overreach into the Constitutional amendment process,” said ERA Coalition / Fund for Women’s Equality President and CEO Carol Jenkins. “Even though women are ready to stop marching, we can’t and won’t stop until the Equal Rights Amendment is no longer held up. As long as legislators across the country continue to pass laws to perpetuate the second class status of women in America, we need the Equal Rights Amendment to achieve true sex equality, and we’ll keep fighting until we get there.”
At 9am ET, the ERA Coalition will host a virtual press conference with Senator Ben Cardin (MD), Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-14), ERA Coalition / Fund for Women’s Equality President and CEO Carol Jenkins, Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal, NOW President Christian F. Nunes, National Women’s Political Caucus President Donna Lent, The Feminist Front Chair Sophia Armen, and ERA Coalition Legal Task Force Chair Linda Coberly.
Find more information about the rest of the days events here.
At 12PM ET, advocates will hold a rally across from the White House at Lafayette Square, and at 1:30 PM ET a delegation will walk to the Department of Justice to deliver over 70,000 petitions calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to rescind the previous administration’s Office of Legal Counsel opinion on the Equal Rights Amendment, which improperly weighed in on the merits of still-pending congressional action to change and remove the arbitrary time limit that Congress included when they passed the ERA in 1972.
The Rally for Equality is co-hosted by the following organizations: ERA Coalition, National Organization for Women (NOW), Feminist Majority, National Women’s Political Caucus, Women’s March, Black Women’s Roundtable, The Feminist Front, and League of Women Voters. Cosponsors of the event included Generation Ratify, Global Rights for Women, Monumental Women, NC ERA Alliance, Business and Professional Women of Maryland, ERA Minnesota, Jewish Women International, Women’s Law Center of Maryland, Equality Now, National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Shattering Glass, and the Florida Chapter of NOW.
The ERA was passed by Congress in 1972, and Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment in 2020, thus fulfilling all constitutional requirements set forth in Article V. The Attorneys General in the last three states to ratify the ERA, Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia, are suing U.S. Archivist David S. Ferriero to force publication of the ERA to the U.S. Constitution. Recently, the ERA Coalition and other advocates for women’s equality filed an amicus brief in support of the Attorneys General’s case.
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