Earlier last week, President Joe Biden made a statement declaring that the Equal Rights Amendment is ratified. While the Constitution provides specific protections and rights, the fact is that women’s equality under the law is not guaranteed.
This has left states like Rhode Island in the position of trying to protect the rights of women incrementally through patchwork legislation and court decisions, but as we have seen and experienced in recent years, laws can be changed or repealed at the whim of legislators and judges.
The goal of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is to provide, once and for all, the constitutional guarantee that all men and women are truly equal under the law and that these rights cannot just disappear with the changing of an administration, legislative body or judicial bench.
The ERA’s language is designed to provide equal protection for both women and men from sex discrimination, addressing issues like pay equity, access to healthcare, and opportunities in the workplace. Having the ERA in the Constitution would also help people facing sex discrimination to have a stronger legal basis to challenge discriminatory practices in court. It would also provide a better foundation for addressing systemic gender disparities in areas like equal pay, family leave, and violence against women.
The ERA would prohibit discrimination based on sex and so it should therefore also protect transgender people in areas of employment, education, healthcare, and other areas. This would be an area where we would anticipate legal challenges, but could provide a tool in the coming days to make it harder for courts and legislative bodies to overturn LGBTQ+ legal rights, such as marriage equality and anti-discrimination policies.
There has been much speculation about how the Equal Rights Amendment would impact abortion rights. The ERA does not ensure automatic protection, but many legal experts agree that it could be used to overturn abortion bans and ensure abortion access nationwide.
At a time when so many of our core rights and liberties are under attack, it would also send a very powerful message about our nation’s commitment to gender equality. We believe that is the intent that President Biden had in his last days of office, but we do caution that we get out our party hats out too soon.
The ERA did pass by a two-thirds majority in Congress and three-quarters of the states have ratified it. There has been some debate about the timeline in which this occurred and deadlines and five states have rescinded their approval. There are also varying reports on whether Biden instructed the archivist to add the amendment to the Constitution, making it unclear what effect the outgoing president’s statement will have and likely inviting legal challenges.
Biden has used his last days in office to issue several executive orders and implement key laws and yet we are also all too aware that as Trump has returned to the White House, there is little that can’t be undone.
While we appreciate that Biden took this symbolic action when he did, it is unclear what impact it will have in the days ahead. What is certain is that with Trump in office, issues around gender equality and our rights to make our own decisions about our bodies, our families and our futures are going to be under attack. We will continue to be there to keep you informed and provide opportunities to be engaged and speak out. We will never stop caring for each other and fighting for our communities.
