The election of a Democratic legislature in Virginia is breathing new life into a decades-long push for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would enshrine equality for women into the U.S. constitution.
Ratifying the ERA, a longstanding goal for women’s rights advocates, needs approval from just one more state to cross the three-fourths threshold of support needed to become a constitutional amendment.
Proponents believe ERA will protect women from discrimination and gender-based violence at a time of heightened sensitivity to women's issues sparked by the #MeToo movement.
