We the Women: The Unstoppable Mothers of the Equal Rights Amendment

by Julie C. Suk

Distinguished law and sociology professor Julie Suk builds off a century of momentum, telling the heroic stories of the women across the United States who protested, resisted, and persisted to establish their constitutional rights.

The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women’s constitutional right to vote. But how far have we really come?

After the adoption and ratification of the 19th Amendment, a bold group of women proposed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA was adopted by Congress nearly 50 years later, but failed to achieve ratification.

In We the Women, Suk follows the rise of the ERA and details why constitutional change is still needed today. Despite significant gains, the fight for women’s equality has forgotten the needs of working mothers and their children.  Using fascinating cases throughout history, Suk explains hot-button issues such as pregnancy discrimination, violence against women, reproductive freedom, and the gender wage gap, while offering tools for revolution.

Today, only 23.7 percent of elected officials in Congress are women. However, the rise of movements like the Women’s March and #MeToo have united and ignited women across the country with renewed hope and energy. Two additional states recently ratified the ERA, bringing us just one state away from securing a century’s worth of struggle for women’s rights.     

Only once we understand the founding mothers – suffragists and lawmakers – of our past can we fight for a better future for our children. We the Women puts motherhood at the forefront of constitutional gender equality and shows how updating our constitution for the 21st century can advance us towards a better future for all Americans.

Genres: Feminism, History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 21, 2020

Reviews

[BookTrib.com]

Suk brings the hard-fought battles of our foremothers to life, including the women of color who are far too often overlooked in historical records. And today, exactly 100 years after the passage of the 19th Amendment, she gives us hope that true equality is possible. She reminds us, when we succeed, the ERA will be “the only piece of our nation’s fundamental law that was written by women after suffrage, adopted by women leading the way in Congress, given meaning by women lawyers and judges, and ratified by women lawmakers in legislatures of the 21st century.”

Read our full review here:
https://booktrib.com/2020/08/11/we-th...

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

How'd we get from original feminism to now