Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

RICHMOND, VA — Today’s formal ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Virginia is a cause for celebration.  This day has been a long, long time coming, and credit for this historic victory is due to the new leadership of the Virginia legislature—and the groundswell of feminist activists and voters who put them there. 

After successfully passing the state House and Senate on Jan. 15th, today’s crossover vote makes Virginia officially the 38th state needed to ratify the ERA—passing the three-fourths of the states threshold the U.S. Constitution requires for final adoption of an amendment.  However, obstacles to certification remain, including an artificial timeline imposed in the preamble to the ERA in 1972. Now Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won’t let the Senate vote on a bill to remove that timeline, S.J.Res.6, even though it has two Republican co-sponsors, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. 

While the timeline removal bill is not necessary—legal analysts have asserted that Article V of the Constitution does not permit the imposition of deadlines on the ratification process—it would provide extra insurance as the ERA certification process goes forward. NOW calls on Congress to act on S.J.Res.6 and correct the Constitution’s most glaring omission.  It is simply never too late for equality.  

A democracy that fails to include women in its founding document is a failed democracy.  But today, Virginia women have shown how to rise up and put equality, reproductive rights and women’s justice at the front of the political agenda. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary , press@now.org , 202-570-4745

Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

Today a mass mobilization of activist women is rising up to march for women’s rights around the country, and NOW is proud to be part of these historic actions.  We turn our attention to the power women have as citizens, activists and voters to defend women’s rights and elect feminist women and allies to office.  

I am proud to be delivering the keynote speech at the Women’s March in Seneca Falls, NY, birthplace of the women’s suffrage movement. I will stand on this hallowed ground and speak to my sister activists about ending violence against women, protecting the environment, defending reproductive rights, LGBTQIA+ rights and rights for immigrants, and so many other of our core issue areas.  

This week women achieved a historic victory with the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) by the Virginia General Assembly, making Virginia the 38th and last state needed for the ERA become part of the U.S. Constitution.  There are a few more steps to take, and NOW, our grassroots activists and our partners will lead us this final mile. That is why NOW Vice President Christian F. Nunes, along with NOW staff, local chapters and supporters, are marching our historic ERA-banner down the streets of Washington, D.C. today. 

The first women’s march came together like lightning in a bottle—as the idea spread, it became unstoppable. In the weeks after Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College women realized they could not stand by in silence.   

Today we are just as determined, just as resolute, and just as on course for a transformational change in 2020.  NOW is proud to join the countless women who are marching today.  Our journey is far from over. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745

Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

RICHMOND, VA – After a hundred-year journey full of heartbreaks and triumphs, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is poised to finally be part of the Constitution of the United States.  NOW President Toni Van Pelt is standing on the floor of the Virginia’s House of Delegates today as they vote to become the 38th and final state needed to ratify the ERA.   

In a historic election in November, voters swept in a feminist majority in the state legislature committed to passing the ERA, and those legislators fulfilled their promise.  For more than a half century winning a constitutional guarantee of equality for women has been a top priority for NOW, with our grassroots activists mounting countless protests, rallies and marches.  Now we are about to see those years of mobilizing come to fruition. 

“I am proud and honored to be walking in Eleanor Smeal’s footsteps as the president of NOW, especially as we cross the finish line of ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment,” Van Pelt said. “I’m also so grateful to NOW activist and leader Virgina Delegate Hala Ayala for her grit and determination to make women’s equal rights a reality in our lifetime.” 

“I have fought for the passage of the ERA for over a decade, long before I was elected to office,” Delegate Ayala said. “That is why I am proud to be the Chief Co-Patron for the Equal Rights Amendment as its passage finally guarantees true gender equality in the US Constitution. Today is a major victory for women and girls throughout the country.” 

“Virginia has taken a huge step forward for Women’s Rights and Equality in passing the Equal Rights Amendment,” said Virginia NOW President Connie Cordovilla. “The rights of women under the law in our United States have moved forward 400 hundred years in a single day! How fitting it is that Hala Ayala, a Latina, has brought change to the lives of women in the Commonwealth and United States from this day forward.” 

Just like Alice Paul when she first started her brave journey for the ERA in the 1920’s, Virginia’s House of Delegates made history today. Next, the bills from the state Senate and House of Delegates will each be agreed to by the other body and ratification will become official.

NOW salutes the new leadership of the Virginia General Assembly, the feminist majority that took this vote, and all the activists, NOW members, women voters and believers in true democracy who made this happen. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745