What Does a Gun Have That a Woman Doesn’t?
Give up?
Guns have a constitutional amendment protecting them – and women don’t! The National Rifle Association, which protects and fights for the rights of gun owners, makes sure that NRA members are well protected.
Yet, in contrast, American women have only one constitutional protection: the right to vote. It’s the only protection against discrimination on the basis of gender.
Equal protection under law
We raise this matter during Father’s Day to remind Urban News readers, women and men alike, that the important women in your life, in all our lives – our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters – lack the most fundamental right that should be shared by all U. S. citizens: a guarantee of equal protection under the Constitution.
In many cases brought before the Supreme Court, the justices have ruled that the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing due process, does not cover women. Justice Antonin Scalia has flatly stated that he believes that the Constitution does not prohibit sex discrimination.
The lack of a constitutional guarantee means that any law or policy that protects women can be removed by one vote in a state legislature or in Congress – or by a judge. There’s no constitutional recourse.
It can happen here
Think it can’t happen? In February 2012, the Wisconsin Legislature repealed that state’s equal pay law. And for years, Title IX, the federal law promising equality for women and girls in education (including school athletics) has been under siege. This law (and others) banning sex discrimination can be butchered by one vote in Congress – and some members are sharpening their knives.
Until the Equal Rights Amendment becomes part of the U.S. Constitution, women will continue to suffer discrimination. Ironically, the United States has insisted that equal rights for women be guaranteed in the constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistan, two nations (among many) that have traditionally discriminated against women. And yet here at home in America, women still lack this basic legal protection.
Ratifying the ERA
The Equal Rights Amendment is very much alive. Thirty-five states have ratified it, and only three more states are needed to put it into the Constitution. Although Congress placed a deadline on getting the required 38 states to ratify, many legal scholars believe the deadline is a false issue. They base this opinion on the Madison Amendment (dealing with congressional pay raises), which became the 27th Amendment 203 years after it began its journey through the states. To clarify the issue, HJR 47 and SJR 39, now pending in the U.S. House and Senate, will eliminate the deadline and specify that the ERA becomes part of the Constitution after three more states ratify it.
Will North Carolina become one of the three ratifying states? Yes, if enough citizens explain to their legislators how important the issue is. In 2013 the ERA will be introduced in the General Assembly, and at least six of the other 15 unratified states are actively working for the ERA.
What can you do? Three things:
• Become informed. To start, check out the website of Equal Rights Amendment North Carolina Citizens Task Force: www.era-nc.org. And tell your friends.
• Talk to your state legislators and candidates. Tell them why the ERA matters to you. Insist they take a stand for equality for men and women.
• Call Senator Kay Hagan and ask her to cosponsor in the U.S. Senate SJR 39 – to eliminate the deadline and make ERA part of the Constitution after three more states ratify it. It’s a free call: 1-877-762-8762.
The Equal Rights Amendment was first written 89 years ago, and it’s long past time for the ERA to become part of the Constitution. If we value women more than we value guns, let’s put the Equal Rights Amendment in our crosshairs and make the ERA equal to the NRA.
