Sign These 5 Petitions To Help Ratify The ERA

On its face, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) reads like the sort of legislation most elected leaders would be thrilled to vote for. It is a straightforward declaration that women be treated equally under the law. It may seem hard to believe, but this basic proposition has been met with lots of opposition over its struggle towards ratification. That's why, in 2017, there are several Equal Rights Amendment petitions asking that 21st century supporters join the decades-long movement by adding their names to a growing list of new voices demanding that the ERA be approved.

Some of the arguments against the ERA are now wholly outdated, such as longtime opponent Phyllis Schlafly's fear that the presumption of a husband supporting his wife would be upended. That's already come to pass, without ERA ratification. Other concerns from ERA naysayers are still debated, such as whether or not women should be drafted alongside men for military service, an issue that popped up during the 2016 Republican primary. Given the language of the ERA, both women and men would ostensibly be equally eligible for conscription.

But what Alice Paul's original text from 1923 sought was not a dictate on societal norms, but a guarantee enshrined within the Constitution that women be treated equally. Here are a few places to support that vision by signing an ERA petition.