Katha Pollitt of The Nation writes: “Of course the ERA won’t mandate equal representation in Congress or anywhere else, but the very fact that it evokes the possibility is what’s exciting about it. The ERA would switch the paradigm from how much equality you can wring from a Constitution that does not specifically grant women any rights except the vote to a Constitution that says equality is the basic understanding, for sex as well as for race. Why shouldn’t the onus be on those who enjoy and profit from the subordination of women, instead of on women who want to be treated as equals? Why did it take until last year, for example, to ban charging women more for health insurance just because they are women?”