Only Equal Rights Amendment can guarantee women's full equality

Letter to the Editor published in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette 8/25/23

Written by Laurie A. Gray, J.D.

August 26 is Women’s Equality Day. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment passed giving women in the USA the right to vote. In 1972, Richard Nixon became the first president to issue a proclamation designating August 26 as “Women's Rights Day.” Since then, every year, every president has proclaimed August 26 “Women’s Equality Day.” In his 1973 proclamation, President Nixon said: "The struggle for women's suffrage, however, was only the first step toward full and equal participation of women in our Nation's life … much still remains to be done." After decades of progress, women in the USA are now LESS equal than we were 50 years ago. On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court decided that women are most certainly NOT equal. The ONLY Constitutional Right guaranteed to women under the intent of the Framers and current text of the Constitution is the right to vote. Hoosier “equality” for women does not even include the right to vote. On June 30, 2023, the Indiana Supreme Court absurdly declared that the Indiana Constitution has treated men and women equally since 1893. It’s time to stop celebrating idle proclamations and pass the Equal Rights Amendment guaranteeing women in the United States full citizenship and equality.