Why Is The Equal Rights Amendment Important

Mary Shelley once said, "I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves." The Women's Rights Movement has consumed the nation since the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott began advocating for women's suffrage in the United States. Since then, the Nineteenth Amendment has passed through Congress and granted women the constitutional right to vote. Despite the achievements of the crusade, women continue to face sexual discrimination. In fact, some believe the Equal Rights Amendment, proposed in 1923 by Alice Paul, is the only approach to guarantee equality among individuals. On the contrary, the United States does not require another law to protect women from injustice, as these already exist. Passing the Equal Rights Amendment is not necessary to ensure the safety of women's rights, as doing so would transfer governmental power to Congress, undo all the progress of the Women's Rights Movement thus far, and be redundant, due to the existence of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

First, if the ERA passed into law, the legislative balance would tip to favor the federal government as opposed to the state governments. Section Two of the ERA states, "The
Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article". In other words, implementation of the ERA would fall into the hands of the federal government, therefore causing the control of legal situations impacted by gender to leave the influence of state legislation. Legal battles involving custody, adoption, marriage, divorce, property, and sex crimes would be handled by the less responsive federal courts. Ultimately, the ratification of the ERA would undermine the state legislatures by transferring substantial portions of their influence over to the federal government.

In addition to the shift in dominance, the adoption of the ERA would cause laws directed towards protecting women to become unconstitutional. While the amendment focuses on ensuring equality amongst individuals, the exact wording can be interpreted in differently. Section One states, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on the account of sex". The language of the amendment initially intended to defend women against discrimination, yet the legal protection extends in both directions. If ratified, the ERA would cause beneficial laws and practices that favor women to become unconstitutional. For example, women would have to sign up for the draft, as keeping it all-male would be considered unconstitutional. Other effected areas would include labor laws, workplace accommodations for pregnant women, child support, and alimony, as these could show preferential treatment towards women.

The final argument against the authorization of the ERA involves the existence of an amendment passed 150 years ago.
The ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, also known as the "Reconstruction Amendment", occurred after the Civil War. The purpose of the law was to protect the rights of former slaves, but it also inadvertently armed the Women's Rights Movement with a valid case. Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment, commonly referred to as the Equal Protection Clause, says that states shall not "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws". While it does not specifically mention gender, it clearly establishes a legal basis for defense of equal rights, thus causing the ERA to become
superfluous.

Although the Fourteenth Amendment satisfies the needs of most people, some believe it does not efficiently protect women's rights as the ERA would. The vague wording of the Equal Protection Clause, or its failure to mention gender, leads many to assume it cannot adequately defend women from discrimination. Despite this reasoning, the Equal Protection Clause has succeeded in defending women from sexism in court cases, such as Reed v. Reed and United States v. Virginia. In both situations, the Fourteenth Amendment supported gender equality, consequently verifying its ability to properly defend discrimination issues and contradicting the notion that the ERA is the only way to preserve women's rights.

Due to the presence of the Equal Protection Clause, the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment is not required to enforce gender equality within the United States, as doing so would enable Congress to hold more power over state legislatures and take away current beneficial practices directed towards women. Sexual discrimination prevails today, but the Equal Rights Amendment would not strengthen women's rights more than the Equal Protection Clause already has. In order to improve the growing problem of sexual discrimination, all individuals must unite together to fight the prejudiced ways of society.