Virginia Finalizes Historic ERA Ratification with Crossover Votes

Below is a statement of Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority, who has been organizing for the ratification of the ERA for 50 years:

“At last! At last! The ERA is completely and finally ratified by both the Senate and the House of Virginia, and has become the 38^th and final state needed to put the ERA in the U.S. Constitution!

Can you believe it? After 47 years, both the House and Senate of Virginia have voted not once but twice in just twelve days to ratify the ERA. Women have waited far too long to be guaranteed equality under the Constitution. The ERA has been stonewalled by the opposition who are committed to preserving the old order—where women have to work twice are hard for half as much.

We know the fight isn’t over but we—as well as many Constitutional scholars—believe that the arbitrary timeline placed in the preamble to the ERA—and which would not appear in the Constitution—is not binding. ERA supporters are fired up and ready to finish the march to victory. It is past time to see the ERA enshrined in the U.S. Constitution for good.”

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