An Old Controversy Gets a New Name

On this 4th of July, a lot of people may think that equal rights for women are part of the Constitution. They are not. The drive for women's equality under the law began in 1923, three years after the granting of women's suffrage. In 1972, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment by the required two thirds of both houses. But in the next ten years, it gathered just 35 of the 38 states it also needed, failing to meet a deadline set by the Congress. With Nancy Pelosi now the first female House Speaker in history, the ERA is back under a new name. The key sentence: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." On this archived edition of To the Point, does an idea as old as women's suffrage finally have a chance? Would women lose as much as they might gain?