Sen. Menendez Announces He Will Again Lead Equal Rights Amendment Push

Press Release

In Honor of Women's History Month, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) announced today that he will, for the seventh time, lead introduction of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to guarantee women complete equal rights under the U.S. Constitution. Women's History Month is dedicated to celebrating the invaluable contributions women have made to our society.

"We cannot continue to tolerate living in a country where women have to work harder, longer and for less money just to get ahead. We cannot stand by quietly while women are denied the American Dream and access to health care and education. We cannot accept that, today, in the United States of America, the rights of women continue to go unprotected," said Sen. Menendez. "Our mothers and daughters deserve the same rights, opportunity and respect as our fathers and sons, and that is why the Equal Rights Amendment must be enshrined in our Constitution and the law of the land."
The ERA states: "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 ERA establishes within the United States Constitution the unambiguous and unassailable rights of women under the law."

"It is long past time to cement gender equality in our nation's most important text, the Constitution, once and for all. With the ERA, we secure equality under the law for women and all marginalized genders. While the last four years have shown us that we may not be able to control who is on the Supreme Court, in the White House, or in charge of Congress and local government, we can control the document they interpret and the legal parameters under which they operate," said Rep. Maloney, lead House sponsor of the ERA .
New Jersey suffragist leader Alice Paul, who founded the National Women's Party and was instrumental in passing the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, authored the first version of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923. It passed Congress in 1972 but fell short of the 38 states required to ratify by three states.

The bill is currently co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).

The text of the bill can be downloaded here.

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