NOW Joins ERA Coalition and Partners to Mark Date Equal Rights Amendment Must Be In Effect
Jan. 27th White House Rally and Virtual Press Conference to Feature Senator Cardin, Chairwoman Maloney, and Congresswoman Speier
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 National Organization for Women (NOW) will join the ERA Coalition and key partners to host a series of events throughout the day charting a path forward.
“It’s unconscionable that 99 years after the Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced, that women are still not recognized as equal under the United States Constitution,” said Christian F. Nunes, president of NOW. “We cannot have a real democracy until all citizens are seen as equal, and to do so we must remove the arbitrary deadline for ERA ratification. We are rising up to make sure our legislators hear us loud and clear: NOW is the time for equality.”
“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.”
Events throughout the day include:
9:00 AM ET – Virtual Press Conference with Senator Ben Cardin (MD), Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-14), former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, 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, Black Women’s Roundtable Senior Advisor Joycelyn Tate, and ERA Coalition Legal Task Force Chair Linda Coberly. You can join the press conference by registering here.
12:00 PM ET – Advocates will hold a rally at the White House.
1:30 PM ET – A delegation will walk to the Department of Justice to deliver 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 White House rally 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.
More information on the day’s events can be found here.
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The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the nation’s leading membership-based advocacy group dedicated to defending women’s rights, advancing equality and combating injustice in all aspects of social, political and economic life. Through educating, mobilizing, and convening a vast network of grassroots activists across the country, NOW advocates for national, state and local policies that promote an anti-racist and intersectional feminist agenda. Since its founding in 1966, NOW has been on the frontlines of nearly every major advancement for women’s rights and continues to champion progressive values today. More about NOW’s efforts and resources is available at NOW.org.