equal rights amendment

50 years ago sex equality seemed destined for the Constitution. What happened?

3:25pm March 22, 2022

by Elizabeth Blair

The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted to approve the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, paving the way for it to become the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It was roaring along...until it wasn't.

Equal Rights Amendment supporters demonstrate outside the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond on Jan. 8.

For These Women, The Equal Rights Amendment Has Been A Decades-Long Battle

9:22pm January 15, 2020

by Sarah McCammon

Women who fought for and against the Equal Rights Amendment decades ago — sometimes as teenagers — are watching the votes in Virginia.

Queue Listen Now

Illinois has ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, more than 40 years after an estimated 10,000 people marched on the Capitol building in Springfield, Ill., to urge approval of the ERA.

One More To Go: Illinois Ratifies Equal Rights Amendment

4:48pm May 31, 2018

by Bill Chappell

The passage comes 36 years after the ratification deadline set by Congress. Some say the votes are merely symbolic — but the ERA's backers disagree.

Altogether, the Constitution has only been amended 17 times since the Bill of Rights, and one of those amendments (the 21st) was done just to repeal another (the 18th, known as Prohibition).

The Zombie Amendments To The Constitution You've Probably Never Heard Of

1:09pm March 10, 2018

by Ron Elving

They won't eat your brains, but technically, they still could come back to life. Not all the amendments that passed Congress have stood the test of ratification by the states.

Spectators look down on the Nevada Assembly on the opening day of the legislative session in Carson City, Nev., in February. On Monday, members of the Assembly voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment.

Nevada On Cusp Of Ratifying Equal Rights Amendment 35 Years After Deadline

3:56pm March 21, 2017

With a vote Monday, Nevada drew closer to approving the ERA, long after Congress' 1982 deadline for ratification. But the state has given the amendment's supporters new reason to hope.