Welcome to the Weekly Update Page for the new Equal Means Equal Initiative to Ratify ERA by August 26th of 2018! We are joining forces with individuals, organizations and communities across the country to educate the public and raise public awareness around the urgent need to achieve the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in the timeliest manner possible.

ERA Ratification in the United States is only two states away!

We are 95% of the way to full equality for all Americans! Let’s get the last two states within this next legislative year!

There are still 14 unratified states that need your help on the ground!

See if your state has ratified the ERA below.

ERA Update in the Unratified States

Did you know that there are still 14 states that have not ratified the ERA?  In many states ERA has been languishing in committees for DECADES! This is not right.  Our request for basic civil and human rights are not to be ignored and we need to be clear and strong in that assertion to our elected officials.

Let’s make your voice heard in your state legislature – together we can bring women and our allies out to support these hearings and votes. In fact, ERA needs to be voted on right away in all 14 state legislatures where they have negligently let it lie.  We must demand that ERA legislation is pulled out of committees and calendared for a vote before the end of the year.  If our ERA sponsors cannot do that – they need to be replaced with representatives who can and will.

Sign up to join our teams on the ground today.  Let us know what you can do and how you can help.  Tell ten people every day that women don’t have equal rights and that we need to do something about it NOW.

National Legislative Update

The following Joint Resolutions involve removing the artificial deadline placed on the equal rights amendment for ratification

Senator Ben Cardin’s S. J. Res. 5: co-sponsors – 33

Congresswoman Jackie Speier’s H. J. Res. 53: co-sponsors – 157

Lizzy Jagger and her mom Jerry Hall Murdoch get behind Equal Means Equal and Legalizing Equality!

Equal Means Equal has teamed up with grassroots organizations all over Illinois to help do what we can to make sure the ERA finally gets across the finish line there in this legislative session.

From left: Maria Phillips (Attorney & Risk Advisor), Jennifer Lee ( Action Illinois and Women Rising-Illinois), Kamala, Natalie and Michelle Fadeley (Co-founder of ERA Illinois Coalition and President of Illinois NOW)

Thanks to the Laura Petroff and Samantha Lerner at the International Law Firm Winston & Strawn LLP we held a screening on Wednesday March 14 in Chicago. It was a huge success, the theatre was packed with lawyers and activist organizers from around Illinois excited and determined to make Illinois the 37^th state to ratify!

Kamala and Natalie get ready for the Winston Strawn screening.

Pre-Screening Panel discussion; from left: moderator Laura Petroff (Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP), Jennifer Lee , Linda Coberly (Managing Partner Winston & Strawn, Chicago; Chair of Appellate and Critical Motions Practice), and Assistant Majority Leader, Representative Lou Lang of Illinois’ 16th District.

Post-Screening Panel discussion; from left: moderator Laura Petroff, Kamala and Natalie

The following day we were proud to be one of the organizations co-hosting “She the People,” a Second City comedy show with an all-female cast performing about the sheer hilarity of what women have to go through on a daily basis.

From left: Lisa Kaihara (RatifyERAIL), Peggy Sutor, Jennifer Grochowski, Kamala Lopez, Natalie White

On Saturday March 17th, before we flew out of Chicago, we had the honor of attending the Rainbow Push Coalition’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” luncheon.

This lunch served as the kick-off for their reinstatement of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s Women’s Division once spearheaded by one of their most notable women, Reverend Willie T. Barrow also known as The Little Warrior.

Awardees at the Ain’t I A Woman? Luncheon at the Rainbow Push headquarters in Chicago

From left: Natalie, Kamala, Sue Friedman and Florence Palumbo-Zilka of the Stand With Women group of the NWSOFA.org (Northwest Suburbs Organizing for Action) at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition luncheon