The Equal Rights Amendment: Why All U.S. States Have Not Ratified

Currently, enacted legislation for the equality of men and women in the United States does not exist. Despite many advancements, as of 2018, the equality of men and women is not explicitly stated in the U.S. constitution. There is a long history of discrimination against women in the U.S., and for some time now, there have been pushes toward constitutionalizing equality based on Sex. One such push came in 1923, shortly after women were granted the right to vote and The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was introduced. This amendment mandates that the “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Unfortunately, this amendment would never take effect due to the lack of votes for ratification by the states. This paper analyzes why after over 30 years since the deadline has passed, 38 states have not already ratified the amendment, and details potential reasons that Illinois and Nevada have ratified the ERA after so many years. The five factors that we analyzed are political partisanship, lack of public support, political theater, the composition of state legislatures by gender, and the effects of social movements and counter protests. This paper specifically evaluates the effects that these factors had on the sudden ratification of the ERA in Nevada and Illinois and describes our findings that it is not just one factor, but a combination of several that explains the questions surrounding the ratification of the ERA