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A century-long fight to add gender equality into the Constitution. “Ratified” on INDEPENDENT LENS – October 20 at 10 pm
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“Ratified”
Monday, October 20 at 10:00 pm
A revealing look at the grass roots organizing and legislative maneuvering that helped make Virginia the pivotal 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
The documentary feature traces the women-led legal, political, and deeply personal fight to enshrine gender equality in the U.S. Constitution nearly a century after the ERA was first proposed, and over 50 years since the House of Representatives and Senate both passed it. “Ratified” chronicles the campaign to make Virginia the 38th state to ratify the amendment, which is the number of states required to have an amendment added to the Constitution after congressional approval.
The film follows organizing efforts as a cross-party coalition confronts entrenched political power. Virginia state Senator Jennifer McClellan and state Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy push through legislative barriers, along with a nonpartisan grassroots team led by organizer Kati Hornung. This political battle reveals racial and economic divisions, along with the ways women’s rights have been used as political leverage. Black women have often been overlooked in legal discussions since the creation of the Constitution, yet efforts led by Black women beginning in 2017 helped reignite momentum for the ERA’s passage after the fight stalled in the early 1980s. With the support of a multiracial, multigenerational collective of activists, an intersectional movement for gender equality emerged.
The Equal Rights Amendment was introduced as a U.S. constitutional amendment in 1924, an era when women had few legal rights and were often considered subordinate to their husbands. After decades of advocacy, the ERA finally passed both houses of Congress in 1972. However, it faced a
deadline for ratification by three-fourths of the states. Despite a wave of support in the 1970s, the amendment fell just short of the required number of state ratifications by the original 1982 deadline.
Efforts to revive and ratify the ERA have continued into the present day, but legal equality for all genders has still not been formally enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Despite some strides, disparities remain in pay, healthcare, and legal protections. The ERA would embed protection from gender-based
discrimination and enshrine bodily autonomy in the Constitution.