Catalyst Blog

Can you be truly independent if you don’t have equal rights under the law?

In the United States, Independence Day—held annually on July 4—commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The document’s second sentence is one of the most famous and consequential in American history:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Although penned by privileged white men, this passage has often been cited by marginalized groups in their fight for equal rights under the law, including the trail-blazers at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, who wrote in the Declaration of Sentiments “all men and women are created equal.”

Yet centuries later, women and men are not equal under U.S. law. In the view of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the U.S. Constitution doesn’t prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. Women today are paid less than men for doing similar work—and legal recourse is limited.

That’s why we need the Equal Rights Amendment.

If passed, the ERA—introduced in every session of Congress since 1923—would guarantee equal rights for both sexes under the law. Since the Amendment was reintroduced last week, familiar critics have taken aim, hoping to derail—yet again—a much needed legal corrective.

On July 4, I thought of how sexism and bias undermine the guarantees to unalienable rights the ERA would provide. The Equal Rights Amendment would bring us closer to the ideals of the Founding Fathers.

We are all created equal—and the law should reflect this.

On the night of July 20, 1848, the first convention to discuss the rights of women drew to a close at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York. Lucretia Mott, an outspoken Quaker deeply influenced by the Iroquois, was first to sign the closing document. The Declaration of Sentiments listed an array of “repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman,” chiefly:

He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.

Sixty-eight women and 32 men signed the original declaration, yet only one woman, Charlotte Woodward, would live long enough to vote in a U.S. election. It took more than 70 years to secure this inalienable right.

Women’s Equality Day, held annually on August 26^th, commemorates this long struggle and reminds us of the challenges still ahead. The 1848 Declaration railed:

He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration.

Generations have passed since these words were written—and gaps in pay and employment persist. But I draw strength from Lucretia Mott and other trailblazers, who pledged their faith in “the final triumph of the Right and the True.”

Full equality will be achieved.