The language of the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment as ratified by 35 states:
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This article shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
To celebrate the 50th anniversaries of Medicare and Medicaid and all great things that these vital programs do for women’s health and economic security, NOW urged activists earlier this week to hold or join a local birthday celebration. Supporters in more than 60 cities were planning to hold parties, flash mobs and discussions, such as in Oakland where they held a rally and march hosted by the Campaign for a Healthy California and, in Boston, MassCARE organized a party with cake, music, and speakers.
Now that marriage equality is the law of the land, the National Organization for Women and allies are re-directing our attention to a persistent and troublesome problem: widespread discrimination against LGBTQIA persons. Unfortunately, 31 states do not have fully-inclusive non-discrimination laws that address the many forms of discrimination encountered by LGBTQIA persons; 28 states permit employers to fire someone because they are gay or bisexual. NOW has campaigned for many years for passage of a comprehensive bill that would prohibit such unequal treatment
NOW and 92 other organizations recently signed a letter (LINK) reaffirming Planned Parenthood’s reputation as a leading health care provider for 2.7 million men and women. NOW condemns the actions of the politically-motivated organization that released a heavily edited video that attempted to manipulate public opinion, vilify trusted health care providers, and advance efforts to take away women’s access to legal and safe abortions and other important health services.
Moving Toward Economic Equity – A long standing injustice soon could be rectified. Recently, President Obama announced a rule change to increase the salary threshold at which employers may exempt workers from overtime pay (for work beyond 40 hours per week) from $23,660 up to $50,440, starting in 2016. This is welcomed news for those of us that value fair pay as it would enable five million more workers to gain access to the overtime pay they deserve, but have been cheated out of it for decades. Their loss in income is due to efforts by conservative political leaders and business lobbyists who have kept the salary threshold that is subject to the overtime pay requirement unfairly low. The five million are part of a total 11 million workers who would be newly guaranteed overtime pay if the rule change is adopted. Importantly, women constitute a majority of workers in this group.