This year, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment—which would constitutionalize gender equality—arguably giving the amendment the required number of states decades after its drafting. The ratification deadlines have lapsed, but should the amendment be revived? Jane Mansbridge, author of the award-winning Why We Lost the ERA, Carol Jenkins, president and CEO of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality, and Inez Feltscher Stepman of the Independent Women’s Forum discuss the past and potential future of the ERA. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
This program is made possible through the generous support of the McNulty Foundation in partnership with the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women's Leadership at Villanova University and as part of the Center’s yearlong initiative, Women and the Constitution, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.
Participants
Carol Jenkins is the president and CEO of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women's Equality, and the founding president of The Women’s Media Center. She is a long-time women’s rights activist, author, and Emmy Award-winning former television journalist. She also hosts the New York Emmy-nominated interview show, “Black America,” on CUNY TV.
Jane Mansbridge is the Charles F. Adams Emeritus Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values at Harvard University. She is the author of the award-winning Why We Lost the ERA, a study of anti-deliberative dynamics in social movements based on organizing for an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Mansbridge has also written about the ERA for scholarly outlets such as Public Opinion Quarterly and The Journal of Politics, and popular outlets like The American Prospect.
Inez Feltscher Stepman is a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women's Forum. She is also a Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow and a senior contributor to The Federalist. Her work has been published in outlets such as USA Today, New York Post, The Hill, and Newsweek, and she has made media appearances on Fox News, PBS, C-SPAN, and NPR.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Carol Jenkins, NBC News: Think, “Remember the Equal Rights Amendment? It's time to amend history books and the constitution”
- Jane Mansbridge, Why We Lost the ERA
- Jane Mansbridge, The American Prospect, “The ERA and the Dynamic of Deafness”
- Inez Feltscher Stepman, The Hill, “Equal Rights Amendment will replace equality with enforced sameness"
- Linda Coberly and Inez Feltscher Stepman, We the People podcast, “Can the Equal Rights Amendment be Revived?”
- Julie Suk and Sai Prakash, We the People podcast, "Will the Equal Rights Amendment be Adopted?"
- Brief Amici Curiae of the ERA Coalition
- "Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment," Department of Justice Memo
- Scott Bomboy, Constitution Daily, "How a college term paper led to a constitution amendment"
- 27th Amendment: Congressional Compensation, Interactive Constitution
- Attorney Gen. v. Mass. Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) (1979)
- Mrs. America, FX on Hulu
- United States v. Virginia (1996)
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