The Equal Rights Amendment

In times of injustice, a nation must accept the necessity of change and embrace new ideas that will create justice in the system. For the United States, some of these changes have occurred through the process of amending our Constitution to match the changing times. In 1789 it was the rights of the people, in 1865 it was the abolishing of slavery, and in 1920 it was giving women the right to vote. However, those ideas did not stop there. For example, abolishing slavery was not the end of the fight for the rights of African Americans, and a Bill of Rights did not stop the people from arguing for more rights, such as same sex marriage. All of these fights have stemmed from a common root: the desire for equality. In 1923, only three years after …show more content…
The first, and most important, reason for adding this amendment to the Constitution is that without it, the rule of law is being denied. The principle of generality is that laws are the same for everyone and there is no discrimination in the writing of the laws. However, recent Supreme Court rulings and laws passed show a lack of generality. In Rostker v. Goldberg in 1981, the drafting of only men and not women was deemed constitutional (Brodsky). However, this clearly defies the idea that everyone is equal and puts into place a law that clearly discriminates based on the gender of a person. A similar case that defended an unjust law was Nguyen V. INS, in which Section 309 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which allows for stricter citizenship requirements for children born outside of the US to American fathers than requirements for children of American mothers, was upheld (Brodsky). These examples show the lack of generality in the written laws, and how the Supreme Court upholds these laws as constitutional, which denies the rule of law. Adding this proposed amendment would make it unconstitutional to discriminate based on gender in these laws, and would uphold the rule of law principles better. Another reason why this amendment should be added is the protection by law it will provide for women. This amendment will never be able to get rid of sexism completely, …show more content…
The first main argument against this amendment is that instead of moving forward with women 's rights, the country will move backwards. According to Phyllis Schlafly, an American Constitutional Lawyer and anti-ERA advocate, certain women 's rights will be destroyed and eliminated if this amendment is passed (Schlafly). She cites the right not to be entered into the draft and other laws in general as rights that will be struck down with the passing and ratification of this amendment. However, there are a few flaws in her arguments. First, the draft is brought up, but the idea behind the amendment is ignored in this argument. Women deserve to have the same rights as men, but the reverse is true as well. Men deserve to be treated as equal by law, and not be discriminated against just as much as women should not be discriminated against. This is not an amendment to give women more than men: it is to make the rights everyone has equal. Also, other laws are brought up, but never specifically mentioned. Without knowing exact examples of laws that will be overturned and what harm they will do to the people of the United States, no real analysis or judgement can be passed on these laws. Another argument is that there is not enough popular support and the proposed amendment will fail anyway (Schlafly). Looking at the poll from the Huffington Post, this is not true and without