MARCH 8 was
International
Women’s Day
Are we there yet?
Are
•
We
•
There
•
Yet
?
Are we there yet? Are • We • There • Yet ?
“At the current rate of progress, it will take 131 years to reach full gender parity, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023.”
— Meg Jones, writing about gender inequality for the World Economic Forum
“According to Equality Now, a private nonprofit that works to create global equality for women and girls, 80% of Americans believe women have equal rights under the Constitution. ‘That shows up in poll after poll,’ says [the organization’s global director, Sharmila Ghosh Sinha]. ‘Anytime I tell people that we do not have equal rights in the Constitution, they are shocked. Women—and anybody who’s not a man—are left out of our Constitution. How can you be a democracy without every citizen having equal rights?’”
— Cheryl Dellecese, writing in January 2023 in the Smith College Alumni News (Still Unequal)
“The US Constitution does not in fact guarantee equality of the sexes. While women’s suffrage is constitutionally protected, nowhere does the Constitution prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.”
— Antonia Kirkland, writing about constitutional equality for Equality Now
“Most Americans believe that the United States Constitution guarantees equal rights to women under the law…[and] most Americans believe that women are—and should be—equal citizens. Under current law, however, we are not: For women to attain the legal status most assume we already have, the U.S. would need to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), first introduced in Congress 100 years ago this year, and introduced in every session of Congress since.”
— Raina Lipsitz, writing in The Conversationalist on the need to finally pass the Equal Rights Amendment
“The fight for the E.R.A. remains critical — with Roe v. Wade now toppled, it is in fact more critical than ever. Despite what a majority of Americans think, our Constitution has no explicit guarantee of equal rights for women and men — the only right that cannot be denied or abridged “on account of sex” is the right to vote.”
— Julie C. Suk and Kate Shaw, writing in the New York Times
Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
— Alice Paul, in her draft of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), written in 1923 (The amendment’s language has been updated since 1923, but its intent is unchanged.)
“If equality and the Equal Rights Amendment, in particular, weren’t so important, they wouldn’t be fighting so hard to keep it from us.”
— Zakiya Thomas, president and CEO of the ERA Coalition, quoted in Ms. Magazine
HELL NO!
FULL CITIZENSHIP
FOR WOMEN!
Any serious candidate for office this year
must adopt this campaign promise! It is a
WIN/WIN!
PS: March 12 is 2024’s Equal Pay Day. According to the US Census website,
“this date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.”
So yeah. Let’s do this thing!