Naperville Women Push Illinois To Pass Equal Rights Amendment

NAPERVILLE, IL — Illinois is one of the 14 states that never ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, something that has blocked the amendment from becoming part of the Constitution since its passage in 1972. Nearly half a century later, a group of Naperville women are fighting to change that.

For many of these women, the need to ratify the ERA centers around "24 words," Illinois League of Women Voters President Bonnie Cox wrote in a letter to lawmakers. The words ringing in Cox's ears are, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

Supporters of the ERA contend that those words can help women combat discrimination on multiple fronts, from health coverage rates and guaranteed paid maternity leave to the wage gap between men and women.

The wage gap took center stage when Representatives from Act Connect Engage (ACE), League of Women Voters Naperville, and the Will and DuPage County National Organization of Women (NOW) made their way to Springfield on April 10 to urge lawmakers to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

It was a day after lawmakers returned from a lengthy spring break. For the ERA supporters, the timing couldn't have been better; it was Equal Pay Day.

Women in Illinois currently make about 79 cents for every dollar earned by men in Illinois; women of color make even less, ACE says in their position statement on the ERA.

Legislators seemed responsive to the idea of the amendment, women fighting for the ERA reported after their time in Springfield Tuesday. According to the League of Women Voters, Senator Michael Connelly (R-Naperville) said he would "probably" vote in favor of the ERA if the issue were on the floor now.

For ERA supporters, though, "probably" still means there's work to do. They're urging constituents to call and petition Connelly to commit to ratifying the amendment.

"The Illinois state constitution already guarantees equal protection; the legislature should take the simple step of ratifying the federal constitutional amendment that would do the same," League of Women Voters President Bonnie Cox wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

The full text of the Equal Rights Amendment, which was first drafted in the early 1920s, reads,

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

The amendment was passed in the U.S. Senate and House in 1972, but it had a deadline of 1979 to get 38 states to ratify it.

In the interim, 35 states ratified the amendment, which left the ERA just 3 states short of being adopted, but conservative feminists raised concerns that led some of the states to rescind their passage of the amendment.

The deadline was then extended to 1982, but no states stepped up to ratify the amendment.

ERA supporters are now pushing lawmakers to do away with the deadline and to adopt a "three-state strategy," which would maintain the original 35 states that ratified the amendment. Nevada ratified the amendment in 2017, which would mean the ERA is just 2 states away from being adopted.

"Illinois has a chance to be one of those two states this spring when the state legislature returns," Cox said in her letter.

Now that lawmakers are back, Illinois may be inching closer to making history — and potentially changing the future for — millions of women.

Image credit: Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla / Staff