One Hundred Years of Women Debating the Equal Rights Amendment

December 13, 2023 marked the one-hundred-year anniversary of the Equal Rights Amendment's introduction in Congress. One Hundred Years is an edited collection of primary texts about the national ERA debate over the past century. These texts reveal the nuanced, complicated, and contradictory ways that women have contemplated the ERA question.

December 13, 2023, marked the one-hundred-year anniversary of the ERA's first introduction in Congress. The time is therefore ripe for revisiting how women across generations have argued that gender equality might reshape and reimagine our democracy.
In contrast to narratives that begin with passage of the Nineteenth Amendment and then propel us forward to the 1970s, this edited collection of primary texts comprehensively surveys women's arguments about the ERA from its inception through the present day. Together and apart, these texts reveal the nuanced, complicated, and sometimes contradictory ways that women have contemplated the question of whether we need the ERA. As this next generation forges ahead to keep the ERA alive, we are left to wonder: Will women remain divided on the ERA? Will it take another century to see it enshrined in the U.S. Constitution? The ERA debate, nevertheless, persists

Autorentext

Melody Lehn is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Chair of Women's and Gender Studies at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Her research on women's rhetoric has appeared in Presidential Studies Quarterly, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, and several edited collections in political communication and rhetorical history.

Camille K. Lewisis Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Furman University. Her book, Romancing the Difference: Kenneth Burke, Bob Jones University, and the Rhetoric of Religious Fundamentalism(2007), is a scholarly attempt to stretch conservative evangelical's separatist frames. The story of that publication is available at The KB Journal.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: A Rhetorical History of the Equal Rights Amendment Debate Alice Paul: An Approaching Anniversary Carrie Chapman Catt: I Am Opposed to the So-Called Blanket Equality Bill Ethel M. Smith: The Trickery of Words Crystal Eastman: Equality or Protection Lavinia Lloyd Dock: The Health of the Race Florence Kelley: Whose Rights Are to Be Equal? Anita Pollitzer: The Principle of Liberty for Men and Women Grace Hoffman White: All Women Must Wake Up Edith Valet Cook: There Is No Single Formula for Equality Jeannette Marks: On Account of Sex Dorothy Kelso Funn: The Legislative Front: The Equal Rights Amendment Mary Church Terrell: Why We Need the Equal Rights Amendment Nora Barney: Those Great Pioneers of 1848 Maida Springer Kemp: The Danger of This Generalization Rebecca Stiles Taylor: The "Un-Equal" Rights Amendment Caroline Katzenstein: Democracy Is Fighting for Its Very Life Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: The Phony Equal Rights Amendment Again Dorothy Kenyon: There Is No Short Road to Freedom Katharine St. George: Equality: Nothing More, Nothing Less President's Commission on the Status of Women: Women Under the Law Betty Friedan: We Should Not Compromise: We Must Pioneer Shirley Chisholm: Prejudice Against Women Is Still Acceptable Aileen Hernandez: Gentlemen, Women Are Enraged Betty Finegan: Nature Cannot Be Amended Gladys O'Donnell: We Are Tired of Being the Silenced Majority Sandra Day O'Connor: I Am Not Sure the Equal Rights Amendment Is Necessary Pauli Murray: Equal Power and Responsibility for Women Bella Abzug: The Price of Inequality Is High Indeed Pat Nixon: Republican Support of Equal Opportunity Addie Wyatt: I Was Opposed to ERA Beneth Peters Jones: The Mini-Amendment with Maxi-Consequences Lottie Beth Hobbs: Ladies! Have You Heard? Barbara B. Smith: Receive the Gift Bestowed Yolanda Orozco: La Chicana and "Women's Liberation" Virginia Ramey Mollenkott: The Bible and the Equal Rights Amendment Barbara Jordan: Womankind Phyllis Stewart Schlafly: The Power of the Positive Woman Patsy Mink: The Cause of Justice and Sisterhood Will Triumph at Last Elisabeth Elliot: Declaration of Dependence Marta Sotomayor: La Década de la Mujer Midge Costanza: There Is No Time Limit Dorothy Height: Black Women Have a Right to Be Properly Informed Sonia Johnson: The Patriarchal Panic Rosalynn Carter: I Am Not Threatened by ERA Maureen Fiedler: Reverence for Life Means Reverence for Equality Ethel Krepps: The Legal Consequence of ERA on Indian Women Gloria Steinem: We Must Ask Them Antonia Handler Chayes: The ERA Will Strengthen National Defense Irene Natividad: We Want to Create an All-Girls Network Ruth Bader Ginsburg: I Remain an Advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment Paige Comstock Cunningham: The Grand and General Language of ERA Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: To Be a Feminist Means To Be Pro-Life Eagle Forum: Memo on the Equal Rights Amendment 2000 Carolyn Maloney: Equal Justice Under the Law Terry O'Neill: It's Not Here Tina Tchen: Supporting the Equal Rights Amendment Pat Spearman: We All Must Persist Michelle Quist: The Conservative Case for the Equal Rights Amendment Valerie M. Hudson: Feminists Should Ask Tough Questions about ERA Sylvia Garcia: It's Time, Finally, to Adopt the Equal Rights Amendment Jennifer Carroll Foy: Bring It On Danica Roem and Kate Kelly: The ERA Can't Be Defeated by Anti-Trans Scare Tactics Vicky Hartzler: I Urge My Colleagues to Vote "No" Nancy Pelosi: The Unfulfilled Promise Ayanna Pressley: We Follow in Their Footsteps Index.