The Equal Rights Amendment was defeated after a 10-year struggle for ratification. The text of the legislation read that ‘Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex'. First introduced to Congress in 1923, the amendment was finally approved by the U.S. Senate in 1972. It was then sent to the state legislatures for ratification. It was not, however, ratified by the required 38 states. The ERA would have become the 27th Amendment to the American constitution. The largest supporter of the amendment was the National Organization for Women (NOW). The most influential opponent of the ERA was conservative female advocate Phyllis Schlafly. She and others argued that enactment of ERA would cause women to lose privileges and…

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Citation: Richert, Lucas Paul. "Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) fails to achieve ratification". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5718, accessed 26 November 2024.]