Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - March 15, 2005)
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By Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CORZINE, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. HARKIN, and Mr. DODD):

S.J. Res. 7. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to equal rights for men and women; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, today, Senators MURRAY, CANTWELL, CORZINE, KERRY, LIEBERMAN, SARBANES, MIKULSKI, BOXER, LAUTENBERG, DURBIN, SCHUMER, LEVIN, FEINSTEIN, HARKIN, DODD and I are re-introducing the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. In doing so, we reaffirm our strong commitment to equal rights for men and women.

Adoption of the ERA is essential to guarantee that the freedoms protected by our Constitution apply equally to men and women. From the beginning of our history as a nation, women have had to wage a constant, long and difficult battle to win the same basic rights granted to men. It was not until 1920 that the Constitution was amended to guarantee women the right to vote, and still today discrimination continues in other ways. Statutory prohibitions against discrimination have clearly failed to give women the assurance of full equality they deserve.

Despite passage of the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s, discrimination against women continues to permeate the workforce and many areas of the economy. Today, women earn less than 76 cents for each dollar earned by men, and the gap is even greater for women of color. In the year 2000, African American women earned just 64 percent of the earnings of white men, and Hispanic women earned only 54 percent.

Women with college and professional degrees have achieved advances in a number of professional and managerial occupations in recent years--yet more than 60 percent of working women are still clustered in a narrow range of traditionally female, traditionally low-paying occupations, and female-headed households continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.

The routine discrimination that so many women still face today makes clear that the Equal Rights Amendment is needed now more than ever. Passage of the ERA by Congress will reaffirm our strong commitment to genuine equality for all women in this new century.

A bolder effort is clearly needed to enable Congress and the States to live up to our commitment of full equality. The ERA alone cannot remedy all discrimination, but it will clearly strengthen the ongoing efforts of women across the country to obtain equal treatment.

We know from the failed ratification experiences of the past that including the ERA in the Constitution will not be easy to achieve. But its extraordinary significance requires us to continue the battle. I urge my colleagues to approve the ERA in this Congress, and join the battle for ratification in the states. Women have waited too long for full recognition of their equal rights by the Constitution.

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