April 3, 2017 The Citizen-Times, NC
Most people think women and men enjoy equal rights in the US Constitution. Not true! Absence of the Equal Rights Amendment is still America’s best-kept secret. Justice Antonin Scalia seemed happy to declare that the Constitution “doesn’t prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.” For decades, the issue has simmered on America’s back burner. Now it has come to a boil, and Nevada’s legislature recently ratified it. Women in other unratified states, aware that we’re losing rights we thought were secure, are pushing hard for the ERA. Those states include Florida, Illinois, Virginia, Utah, and North Carolina. Read more.
Most people think women and men enjoy equal rights in the US Constitution. Not true! Absence of the Equal Rights Amendment is still America’s best-kept secret. Justice Antonin Scalia seemed happy to declare that the Constitution “doesn’t prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.” For decades, the issue has simmered on America’s back burner. Now it has come to a boil, and Nevada’s legislature recently ratified it. Women in other unratified states, aware that we’re losing rights we thought were secure, are pushing hard for the ERA. Those states include Florida, Illinois, Virginia, Utah, and North Carolina. Read more.
April 1, 2017 Raleigh News and Observer, NC
BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Last week as legislative leaders scrambled to reach a compromise on House Bill 2, a group of women activists and legislators gathered in the Legislative Building to advocate for a much older law involving gender – the Equal Rights Amendment. The event, complete with women holding the iconic round signs of 45 years ago emblazoned with “ERA YES,” felt like it was happening in a time warp, but the issue is very much part of now. Bills filed in both the state House and Senate this year would give the legislature a chance to ratify the amendment. Read more.
BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Last week as legislative leaders scrambled to reach a compromise on House Bill 2, a group of women activists and legislators gathered in the Legislative Building to advocate for a much older law involving gender – the Equal Rights Amendment. The event, complete with women holding the iconic round signs of 45 years ago emblazoned with “ERA YES,” felt like it was happening in a time warp, but the issue is very much part of now. Bills filed in both the state House and Senate this year would give the legislature a chance to ratify the amendment. Read more.
March 28, 2017 WRAL TV - NC
By Laura Leslie
RALEIGH, N.C. — Forty years after they opted not to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, North Carolina lawmakers are being called on to reconsider the amendment in light of a vote in Nevada. The Nevada legislature voted last week to ratify the amendment, making it the first state to do so since 1977. The ERA would need to be ratified by two more states to reach the required 38. North Carolina lawmakers voted several times on ratification in the 1970s. In 1977, the proposal passed the House by a slim margin, but it never passed both chambers. Read more.
By Laura Leslie
RALEIGH, N.C. — Forty years after they opted not to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, North Carolina lawmakers are being called on to reconsider the amendment in light of a vote in Nevada. The Nevada legislature voted last week to ratify the amendment, making it the first state to do so since 1977. The ERA would need to be ratified by two more states to reach the required 38. North Carolina lawmakers voted several times on ratification in the 1970s. In 1977, the proposal passed the House by a slim margin, but it never passed both chambers. Read more.
March 28, 2017 Outer Banks Sentinel
Activists from across North Carolina were present in Raleigh on March 27 to cheer Nevada’s ratification last week of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) — and to call on the leaders of both chambers of the General Assembly to take action on current ERA bills sitting in Committees on Rules. Representative Carla Cunningham recognized the work of all women and men to secure equal rights and congratulated the ten N.C. counties and municipalities that have passed an ERA resolution. Read more.
Activists from across North Carolina were present in Raleigh on March 27 to cheer Nevada’s ratification last week of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) — and to call on the leaders of both chambers of the General Assembly to take action on current ERA bills sitting in Committees on Rules. Representative Carla Cunningham recognized the work of all women and men to secure equal rights and congratulated the ten N.C. counties and municipalities that have passed an ERA resolution. Read more.
March 19, 2-17 Mountain Express, NC
You might be surprised to learn that women do not have equal rights in this country. You’d be in good company: In a 2016 poll conducted by DB5 on behalf of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality, 80 percent of respondents mistakenly said the Constitution already includes such a guarantee. Many people think equal rights are covered by either the Equal Rights Amendment — which Congress approved in 1972 but which fell three states short of the required number of ratifications by the June 30, 1982, deadline — or by the 14th Amendment, which deals with the rights of citizens and equal protection under the law. But since that amendment’s original wording defined citizens as “male,” it didn’t grant women full citizenship rights — and, in fact, they couldn’t even vote until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. Read more.
You might be surprised to learn that women do not have equal rights in this country. You’d be in good company: In a 2016 poll conducted by DB5 on behalf of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality, 80 percent of respondents mistakenly said the Constitution already includes such a guarantee. Many people think equal rights are covered by either the Equal Rights Amendment — which Congress approved in 1972 but which fell three states short of the required number of ratifications by the June 30, 1982, deadline — or by the 14th Amendment, which deals with the rights of citizens and equal protection under the law. But since that amendment’s original wording defined citizens as “male,” it didn’t grant women full citizenship rights — and, in fact, they couldn’t even vote until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. Read more.
February 14, 2017 WRAL-TV
North Carolina would ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution under bills filed in both the state House and the state Senate Tuesday. Congress sent the ERA to the states in 1972. The amendment, which would guarantee equal rights for women, eventually died after it fell three states short of the 38 it needed to ratify it. North Carolina was one of 15 states that declined to ratify the amendment at the time. Read more.
North Carolina would ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution under bills filed in both the state House and the state Senate Tuesday. Congress sent the ERA to the states in 1972. The amendment, which would guarantee equal rights for women, eventually died after it fell three states short of the 38 it needed to ratify it. North Carolina was one of 15 states that declined to ratify the amendment at the time. Read more.
May 31, 2015 Op-ED Fayetteville Observer, NC
Tar Heel ladies, listen up. According to N.C. Sen. Ralph Hise, it's not "anti-women" to oppose our state's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution, which will give footing to protections for equal pay for equal work. It's just good-ole-boy "pro-business" sense. In fact, there isn’t even a problem. That pay gap is all inside your pretty little heads. He reassures us that “We have equality in our nation. We have outcomes that have not achieved equality the way we would want them to, but I do not think inequality exists. Read more
Tar Heel ladies, listen up. According to N.C. Sen. Ralph Hise, it's not "anti-women" to oppose our state's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution, which will give footing to protections for equal pay for equal work. It's just good-ole-boy "pro-business" sense. In fact, there isn’t even a problem. That pay gap is all inside your pretty little heads. He reassures us that “We have equality in our nation. We have outcomes that have not achieved equality the way we would want them to, but I do not think inequality exists. Read more
March 5 2015 OP-ED Citizen-Times, NC
ASHEVILLE – Roberta Madden wants to live to see the day the Equal Rights Amendment is added to the U.S. Constitution. At 78, the Black Mountain resident fears she is running out of time. "It's amazing to think how long I have been working on this — since 1972," said Madden, who retired as director of racial and social justice at the YWCA in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, seven years ago. "The problem is no one knows what the ERA is, or they think it has already passed," she said. Read more
ASHEVILLE – Roberta Madden wants to live to see the day the Equal Rights Amendment is added to the U.S. Constitution. At 78, the Black Mountain resident fears she is running out of time. "It's amazing to think how long I have been working on this — since 1972," said Madden, who retired as director of racial and social justice at the YWCA in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, seven years ago. "The problem is no one knows what the ERA is, or they think it has already passed," she said. Read more