Since the United States has been a country, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has not become a part of the United States Constitution. The Equal Rights Amendment is an amendment that promotes gender equality in the United States constitution. It states, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." (www.equalrightsamendment.org)

The ERA was first written in 1923 by suffragist leader and founder of the National Women's Party (NWP), Alice Paul. After the 19th Amendment, was passed and ratified to the United States Constitution giving women the right to vote, Paul and the NWP thought the ERA was the next necessary step in guaranteeing constitutional equality for all citizens. From 1923 and to the present today, the ERA was introduced at every session of the United States Congress. In 1972 it was passed by the United States federal government, however when the ERA was sent to the states for ratification it only passed by 35 of the 38 states, leaving the ERA three votes short for ratification by the time the seven year time limit in proposing the ERA was over. In the 110th Congress Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) reintroduced the ERA and imposed no deadline for the ratification process.

The fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution grants citizens due process, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." (United States Constitution) However, at the time this amendment was written, it was not meant to include women. The amendment was passed to ensure the rights of African-American men. The fourteenth amendment on occasion has been interpreted to include women of any race or ethnic background; and it still does not give women any guarantee for gender equality. While the nineteenth amendment of the constitution protects women's right to vote, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex," there is nowhere in the United States Constitution enforcing women's rights to due process.

Throughout United States history, women have faced sexist discrimination. For years women could not vote, hold property, work outside the home, and were considered the property of their husbands and fathers. Eventually protective laws were established that gave women more rights which enabled them to vote, work outside the home, hold property, and not be considered property of men. However, even with protective laws, women in the twenty-first century, still face discrimination from men and society; in the work place they face a glass ceiling, women are often subjected to violence, women face sexism in classrooms, women face disparities in health care, women with disabilities get ignored and stigmatized even more than men with disabilities, and women are still not paid equally to men.

While there are laws on the books protecting women's rights, the truth of the matter is that the laws of women's rights in the United States are not enough to promote gender equality. The reason is because the laws do not rest upon a strong constitutional foundation, leaving them vulnerable to be repealed by the courts and the legislature. However, the ERA would give women, not only constitutional equality, but would enforce and protect women's rights laws.

The United States government on the federal and state level needs to pass the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. By ratifying the ERA, the government would not only be improving the lives of women and girls in the United States, but in addition the government will be giving women full constitutional protection of their civil rights and it would make it harder to society to discriminate against women.

At the moment, the United States has the chance to enforce gender equality including it in the U.S. Constitution and to improve the lives of women and girls in the U.S. by adding the ERA to the constitution. Women and girls would be guaranteed full equal opportunity and privileges and discrimination towards women and girls would decrease. Even if gender discrimination occurs under the ERA, the courts would have a strong foundation that enforces gender equality and lawmakers wouldn't be able to repeal women's rights laws.

Overall, the ERA would give women full constitutional protection to their rights so women's rights laws couldn't be repealed in the courts and in the legislature, it would give women full equality and would make it harder for society to discriminate against women. The United States government needs to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The United States government on the federal level needs to

· reintroduce and pass the ERA to current United States Congress

· the United States Congress needs to pass the amendment

· the United States Congress needs to put no time limit for passing the amendment

· the President of the United States needs to sign the amendment

The United States government on the state level needs to;

· ratify the ERA to the constitution so it can become a part of the U.S. constitution

• needs to add an Equal Rights Amendment to their state constitution

Sincerely,