Equal Obligation. Unequal Protection. Women Veterans and the Fight for Constitutional Equality

June 22, 2026 Joel Marshall

June 12, 2026 | Chicago, Illinois

On Women Veterans Recognition Day 2026, military veterans, legal advocates, constitutional scholars, and equality leaders gathered in Chicago and online to address a question that continues to sit at the center of America’s unfinished equality project:

If women are expected to assume the obligations of citizenship, including military service and potential conscription, why does the Constitution continue to provide women less protection against sex discrimination than other groups?

The event took place at a pivotal moment.

Multiple legal challenges involving military service, sex discrimination, and constitutional equality were moving through the federal courts, including EQUAL MEANS EQUAL v. Trump, a constitutional challenge seeking full recognition and enforcement of the Equal Rights Amendment. At the same time, several Selective Service cases brought by male plaintiffs and men’s rights organizations were advancing toward potential Supreme Court review.

For many participants, the concern was not simply military policy. It was whether women who have served, sacrificed, and defended the nation would be included in legal and constitutional decisions that directly affect their rights and status under the law.

Women have served in every branch of the United States military. They have deployed to combat zones, commanded troops, flown aircraft, endured injury, harassment, assault, and loss, and made the same sacrifices demanded of military service.

Yet despite decades of progress, women continue to be denied full constitutional equality. Under current constitutional doctrine, discrimination based on sex receives a lower level of judicial scrutiny than discrimination based on race. The result is a legal framework that still places women in a separate category under the law.

The event was organized around a simple principle:

EQUAL SACRIFICE. EQUAL RIGHTS.

Participants discussed the Equal Rights Amendment, sex discrimination law, military obligations, and the growing national debate over equal protection under the Constitution.

Featured speakers included:

Pat Spearman — Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, former President Pro Tempore of the Nevada State Senate, women veterans advocate, and leader of Nevada’s historic ERA ratification effort.

Leah Gould — Former U.S. Navy pilot, EQUAL MEANS EQUAL attorney, and Assistant Dean of Public Interest at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

Rochelle Crump — Founder and Executive Director of National Women Veterans United.

Dr. Pamela Wilson — Retired U.S. Army Religious Affairs Specialist Sergeant Major and President of the International Association of Military Women of Color.

Dr. Renee Dickerson — Founder and Executive Director of Victory Place.

Throughout the program, speakers emphasized that women veterans have already answered every question about their willingness to serve.

The hypothetical is over.

Women have served. Women have deployed. Women have commanded. Women have fought. Women have been wounded. Women have died.

The remaining question is whether the Constitution will finally recognize women as equal persons under the law.

As Pat Spearman stated:

“Women have already proven their willingness to serve, lead, and sacrifice for this country. Equal sacrifice requires equal rights. Women veterans deserve to be heard whenever questions of military service, citizenship, and equality are being debated.”

Dr. Renee Dickerson reminded attendees that women veterans are too often rendered invisible in public conversations about military service and equality. Her message was simple and direct: women veterans want to be seen, heard, and recognized for both their service and their humanity.

The event was organized in partnership with National Women Veterans United (NWVU), the International Association of Military Women of Color (IAMWOC), Victory Place, and EQUAL MEANS EQUAL.

The program highlighted the lived experiences of women veterans, examined the constitutional framework governing sex discrimination, and called attention to the continuing legal reality that women do not receive equal constitutional protection under the law.

Together, these organizations continue to advocate for a future in which women are not merely expected to bear equal obligations, but are guaranteed equal constitutional protection under the law.

Because equality is not partial.

Equality is not conditional.

Equality is not aspirational.

Equality either exists, or it does not.

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