Join the 38 Miles for the ERA March and Make the ERA Too Big to Fail
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By Civia Tamarkin, director Birthright: A War Story
Arizona legislators are holding 167 million American women hostages. But women in that state and across the country are organizing to fight back.
Forty-seven years ago, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment guaranteeing equal protection under law regardless of sex. But as of the 1982 deadline, only 35 of the required 38 states had voted to ratify the amendment into the U.S. Constitution. So the ERA appeared lost and forgotten, until a surprise revival two years ago in the wake of Trump’s election. First Nevada moved ahead to ratify it and last year, so did Illinois.
Now all eyes are on Arizona which could become the threshold state to finally push the ERA over the finish line. While there is bipartisan legislative support, two Republican men have thrown roadblocks-- the Speaker of the House who refused to assign the ERA bill to committee and the chairman of the senate judiciary committee who let the bill die without a hearing.
But this time, hundreds and hopefully, thousands of people are not silently surrendering. They are shouting out, standing up and descending on Phoenix this Monday, March 11 for a 3-day symbolic 38-mile ERA walk to demand that Arizona legislators give the ERA bill a hearing and vote on the floor of each chamber.
Join them. By plane, by carloads and busloads, flood into Phoenix like everyone burst upon Washington D.C. for the first Women’s March. Cast a national and global spotlight on Arizona and make ERA AZ too big to fail. Woman outnumber men and make up more than 50 percent of the U.S. population. It’s time we had equal rights and equal protection under the Constitution. The suffragettes fought for it 98 years ago. New Age Feminists fought for it in the 1970s. We have to make it happen now! #ERAyesAZ