Since our nation’s founding, the absence of a statement of equality for women under the Constitution has been an issue of significant debate. During the drafting of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John, “In the new code of laws, remember the ladies and do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.” More than two centuries later, a Constitutional guarantee of equal rights for women still doesn’t exist.

Rep. Eshoo is proud to have been an original cosponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment in multiple Congresses, and continues to work for its enactment.

In the 113th Congress, Rep. Eshoo has cosponsored H.J.Res. 43, legislation removing the timeline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. In order to become law, after passing both the House and Senate, constitutional amendments must be ratified by two-thirds of all state legislatures. When the Equal Rights Amendment passed the House and Senate in 1972, Congress ultimately gave the states ten years to ratify it–but unfortunately, only 35 of the required 38 states were able to ratify it prior to the 1982 deadline. H.J.Res. 43 would remove this deadline, allowing the final three states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment at any time.