Equality For Women In The 1970's

The purpose of the ERA is to grant women the same rights as men under the law. Society in the 1970’s had a positive effect on the equal rights amendment because women pushed the equal rights amendment to congress and motivated multiple women and even men to push for equality. The ERA was initially written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. The ERA had always been hotly debated concerning the idea of equality for women. According to historian Judith Sealander, it was “Feminist against Feminist”; the outcome was the ultimate fail of the ERA. It was said to be “Feminist against Feminist” because many women wanted to have more freedom-to extend their roles as business women while other women rather prefered their roles as housewives and care

It looked like it would get a quick approval, until Phyllis Schlafly organized traditional women in position, saying that the ERA would disadvantage housewives. Congress had set a ratification deadline of March 22,1979. In 1978, a joint resolution of Congress extended the ratification deadline to June 30, 1982, but not all states ratified the amendment and so it didn’t become part of the Constitution. Many groups pursued to attempt the adoption of the ERA -which would give the same rights to men and women. Paul wrote an outline in honor of Lucretia Mott, a female abolitionist who fought for women’s rights and attended the First Women’s Rights Convention, Paul named the amendment Mott’s Amendment. Since the 1920s, the Equal Rights Amendment has caused a division among feminists about the idea of women's equality. Alice Paul and her National Woman's Party was the leading proponent, arguing that women should be on equal terms with men in all regards, even if that means sacrificing certain

NOW disrupted the hearings and demanded a hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment and won a meeting with Senators to discuss the ERA. That August, over 20,000 American women held a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality protest to demand full social, economic, and political equality. Said Friedan of the strike, "All kinds of women's groups all over the country will be using this week on August 26 particularly, to point out those areas in women's life which are still not addressed. For example, a question of equality before the law; we are interested in the Equal Rights Amendment." Despite being centered in New York City—which was regarded as one of the biggest strongholds for NOW and other groups sympathetic to the women's liberation movement such as Redstockings—and having a small number of participants in contrast to the large-scale anti-war and civil rights protests that had occurred in the recent time prior to the event, Griffiths's joint resolution was then adopted by the Senate on March 22, 1972, with a vote of 84 yeas, 8 nays and 7 not voting. The Senate version, drafted by Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, passed after an amendment proposed by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina that would exempt women from the draft was