Is There a Need for a Constitutional Amendment Guaranteeing Women Equal Rights? (H. Joint Res. 52)

What is H. Joint Res. 52?

(Updated October 23, 2019)

This resolution would propose an amendment to the Constitution that would ensure equality of rights between men and women under federal and state law if ratified. The Equal Rights Amendment (as it’d be known) would prohibit denying or abridging a person’s rights because of their sex.

The key clause of the bill reads as follows: “Women shall have equal rights in the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”

38 of the 50 states would need to vote to ratify this amendment after it passes through Congress, and two years after the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified it would take full effect. As a joint resolution, this legislation would advance to the Senate if passed and would have the force of law if enacted.

Argument in favor

Women still face many obstacles in the workplace and in society at large, so passing a constitutional amendment ensuring they have equal rights would help fix existing disparities at the federal and state level.

Argument opposed

There are already plenty of federal laws on the books protecting women from being discriminated against because of their sex, and the Equal Rights Amendment already went through an unsuccessful ratification process.

Impact

Women throughout the U.S.; states that’d need to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment; Congress; and the Constitution.

Cost of H. Joint Res. 52

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) has introduced legislation to advance the Equal Rights Amendment in every congressional session since 1997 (it was first introduced in 1923), but has been unable to get it to a floor vote thus far. Maloney emphasized to CNN that its passage and ratification would empower women to continue playing an increasingly vital role in American society:

“Equality, rights and opportunity are basic values in our country. And the world is changing. We can’t compete and win in the global economy if we don’t use the skills of all of our people. This is something you can do to strengthen the country, and it doesn’t run up the deficit. It just runs up womens’ self-esteem.”

Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), an original cosponsor of this resolution, praised the impact the Equal Rights Amendment would have on the economic contributions of women to their families in the same interview with CNN:

“One of the Republican themes is, ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ This is a rising tide and it will lift all boats. When women are out of poverty, their families are out of poverty, their children, their husbands, their significant others are out of poverty… Why wouldn’t we want their tide lifted? They’ll lift the entire economy.”

This legislation currently has the support of 194 cosponsors in the House — including 187 Democrats and seven Republicans.

Of Note: Congress actually passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, but arbitrarily set a 10-year deadline for states to ratify it, and by the time 1982 arrived only 35 of the required 38 states had ratified it. There is currently legislation in Congress that would retroactively eliminate the deadline, effectively allowing the ratification process to pick up where it left off in 1982.

Time limits on constitutional amendments hadn’t been utilized prior to the 18th Amendment, so ratification time limits are a self-imposed restraint rather than a constitutional requirement. Case in point, the 27th Amendment wasn’t ratified until 203 years after Congress passed it and it sent it to the states!

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) Press Release
  
• CBS New York
  
• CNN
  
• Equal Rights Amendment (In Favor)
  
• Feminist Majority Foundation (In Favor)