Whenever there is a lull in perceived slights to complain about, or a lag in legislation to trumpet their inequities, radical feminists trot out the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). They are baffled, they say, as to why this amendment to the U.S. Constitution has not been ratified. Presidential advisor Tina Tchen recently wrote a blog “Supporting the Equal Rights Amendment” on the White House website. She pretends ignorance as to the reasons why the ERA went down in spectacular flames — lit by activists like Beverly LaHaye and Phyllis Schlafly, fanned by state legislatures who felt the heat from conservative women, and blow-torched by the Supreme Court. Tina writes that, “Its premise is quite simple: men and women shall have equal rights under the law. It is hard to imagine an argument against this basic concept.”
The last time the ERA was trotted out, Concerned Women for America dusted off our arguments and added updated evidence in the article, “Equal Rights Amendment Strips Women of Their Rights.” Tina claims that women are “underpaid and underrepresented in our country” and credits Barack Obama with “advancing the role of women and girls in every aspect of society.” Tina ironically overlooks, however, one significant population of women who advanced because of President Obama: Conservative women who ran for — and won — office to oppose his disastrous policies. The election of 2010, the first after he took office, has been called the Year of the Conservative Woman. Pro-life women moved from their homes to the House of Representatives, Senate, and governors’ mansions. And they didn’t need the Equal Rights Amendment to do it.