Zonta International is a global organization of individuals dedicated to building a better world for women and girls. The Zonta USA Advocacy Action Center is a tool for our members in the United States and other individuals who share our commitment to gender equality to take action to improve the lives of women and girls. With your help, we can make a difference. In addition to the actions below, click here to support our joint efforts with UNICEF USA to end child marriage in the United States.
On January 27, 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA. Though the deadline imposed by Congress had passed 28 years before, the deadline was not part of the ERA and the U.S. Constitution does not set deadlines for amendments.
According to Section 3 of the ERA, the amendment should go into effect two years from the date of ratification. However, it has been nearly three years and the archivist has still not published the ERA. As chief administrator of the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States, it is the archivist’s job to certify new amendments to the Constitution.
In September 2021, the Zonta USA Caucus partnered with the ERA Coalition on a petition to Attorney General Merrick Garland that asked him to withdraw an opinion issued by the previous administration’s Office of Legal Counsel that is blocking the ERA from moving forward. Then in January 2022, the Zonta USA Caucus joined the ERA Coalition and 49 other organizations fighting for women’s rights in the United States in filing an amicus brief arguing for formal recognition of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Please join us in asking President Joe Biden to send guidance to acting U.S. Archivist Debra Steidel Wall, requesting that she immediately publish the ERA to the Constitution. You may also contact your senator, asking them to encourage the president to speak to the archivist.