Steven Donahue's Blog: Books and Stuff - Posts Tagged "obama"
Women Deserve Better
I recently watched a 1980’s episode of Family Ties, the one where conservative Alex Keaton fakes his support of the Equal Rights Amendment to impress a cute girl. In the end, he confesses that he doesn’t support passage of the ERA.
That episode got me thinking: What ever happened to the ERA?
Well, in the early 1970s, Congress passed the amendment and sent it to the states for ratification. However, it did not garner enough votes and the legislation died. From there, supporters have worked to try to get it passed, but the ERA has never become law.
Let’s think about this for a moment. Even today, women still do not earn equal pay for equal work in many jobs, as compared to their male counterparts. How in the 21st Century is this still possible? And why aren’t more people (not just women) voicing their concern?
The U.S. economy is still weak and our reputation on international affairs is dubious at best, but shouldn’t we still strive to be the human rights leaders of the world? Shouldn’t we be the beacon of hope for women in other nations where they are not only denied equality, but are subjugated by male-dominated societies that consider them to be property?
You may want to label me a feminist (and considering that the main characters in three of my books, Amanda Rio, The Manila Strangler and Amy the Astronaut and the Flight for Freedom are strong females, maybe I am) but that doesn’t change the fact that inequality among the sexes still exists in the United States.
What can we do about it? Write to your representatives in Congress. Write to President Obama. Tell them it is time to make the ERA law.
Alex Keaton was wrong to oppose the ERA in the 1980s and we are doing women a major injustice by not making their equality the law of the land in 2014. It’s time to change that.
That episode got me thinking: What ever happened to the ERA?
Well, in the early 1970s, Congress passed the amendment and sent it to the states for ratification. However, it did not garner enough votes and the legislation died. From there, supporters have worked to try to get it passed, but the ERA has never become law.
Let’s think about this for a moment. Even today, women still do not earn equal pay for equal work in many jobs, as compared to their male counterparts. How in the 21st Century is this still possible? And why aren’t more people (not just women) voicing their concern?
The U.S. economy is still weak and our reputation on international affairs is dubious at best, but shouldn’t we still strive to be the human rights leaders of the world? Shouldn’t we be the beacon of hope for women in other nations where they are not only denied equality, but are subjugated by male-dominated societies that consider them to be property?
You may want to label me a feminist (and considering that the main characters in three of my books, Amanda Rio, The Manila Strangler and Amy the Astronaut and the Flight for Freedom are strong females, maybe I am) but that doesn’t change the fact that inequality among the sexes still exists in the United States.
What can we do about it? Write to your representatives in Congress. Write to President Obama. Tell them it is time to make the ERA law.
Alex Keaton was wrong to oppose the ERA in the 1980s and we are doing women a major injustice by not making their equality the law of the land in 2014. It’s time to change that.
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