ERA passes
Yay!
As you would expect, there will be those who will fight against it - religious conservatives. It was ever thus, as we can see from this article at National Catholic Reporter ...
Women are on the verge of constitutional equality, but some Catholics still stand in the way
[...] The ERA was so popular in the 1970s that many expected it to pass. Even some U.S. bishops were in favor of it. Six members of the U.S. bishops' conference formed an ad hoc committee on women in church and society to support the amendment in 1978.
In the end, the U.S. bishops rejected it "because of uncertainty as to its legal and constitutional consequences for family life, the abortion issue and other matters." The bishops were lobbying for a constitutional amendment to limit abortion and, they claimed, their legal counsel had discouraged them from supporting the ERA.
The U.S. bishops, of course, were not powerful enough to neutralize the ERA. But one very conservative Catholic woman was: Phyllis Schlafly. A constitutional lawyer, radical anti-feminist and anti-abortion activist, Schlafly was a culture warrior before the U.S. bishops knew it was cool. Her grassroots movement called Stop ERA (now known as the Eagle Forum) is largely credited with convincing lawmakers to reject the amendment.
[...]
So far, the U.S. bishops have remained silent on whether they will continue to reject the ERA, and my repeated requests for comment to the media office at the U.S. bishops' conference were unanswered.
But the response of the Virginia Catholic Conference gives us a clue as to what the bishops' position will be.
"The Equal Rights Amendment hurts women — both born and unborn," the Virginia bishops wrote in a press release in early 2019 as a surging Ratify VA campaign was getting serious traction ....
I find it hard to understand why any woman would want to belong to the Catholic church, which denies women equality within the institution and works via lobbying to doom women's rights in the greater world as well.
As you would expect, there will be those who will fight against it - religious conservatives. It was ever thus, as we can see from this article at National Catholic Reporter ...
Women are on the verge of constitutional equality, but some Catholics still stand in the way
[...] The ERA was so popular in the 1970s that many expected it to pass. Even some U.S. bishops were in favor of it. Six members of the U.S. bishops' conference formed an ad hoc committee on women in church and society to support the amendment in 1978.
In the end, the U.S. bishops rejected it "because of uncertainty as to its legal and constitutional consequences for family life, the abortion issue and other matters." The bishops were lobbying for a constitutional amendment to limit abortion and, they claimed, their legal counsel had discouraged them from supporting the ERA.
The U.S. bishops, of course, were not powerful enough to neutralize the ERA. But one very conservative Catholic woman was: Phyllis Schlafly. A constitutional lawyer, radical anti-feminist and anti-abortion activist, Schlafly was a culture warrior before the U.S. bishops knew it was cool. Her grassroots movement called Stop ERA (now known as the Eagle Forum) is largely credited with convincing lawmakers to reject the amendment.
[...]
So far, the U.S. bishops have remained silent on whether they will continue to reject the ERA, and my repeated requests for comment to the media office at the U.S. bishops' conference were unanswered.
But the response of the Virginia Catholic Conference gives us a clue as to what the bishops' position will be.
"The Equal Rights Amendment hurts women — both born and unborn," the Virginia bishops wrote in a press release in early 2019 as a surging Ratify VA campaign was getting serious traction ....
I find it hard to understand why any woman would want to belong to the Catholic church, which denies women equality within the institution and works via lobbying to doom women's rights in the greater world as well.
posted by crystal | 8:16 PM
2 Comments:
Part of the problem with the equal rights amendment is that people aren't really sure what it will do. Basically everyone is in favor of equal pay. Which should be assured through the Civil Rights Act. But they are unsure if it means women would be subject to the draft (actually I don't feel that anyone should be subject to the draft). Also how would it affect divorce cases? Mothers are favored somewhat with child custody. And women get alimony if there is a large income disparity, this affects their ability to get out of a bad marriage. Would that change?
I didn't like Phyllis Schaffly, felt that she just muddied the issues. As far as the bishops go, it is outside their purview, and I would prefer them to stay out of it. But as it stands now the ERA seems largely symbolic.
Hi Katherine.
As for the draft issue, it has already been decided that if there is another draft, women would be drafted too ... https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/02/26/no-women-dont-have-sign-draft-yet-heres-whats-next.html
About divorce, I believe that the decisions about who pays the other spouse is now based mostly on the finances of each - sometimes women have to pay men alimony and child support ... https://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-women-are-now-paying-alimony-and-child-support-2018-05-17-1882442
Children make it harder for women, but if the government supported free daycare, family leave, free preschool, access to full reproductive services (all stuff the Dems are for) then women would not be at a disadvantage.
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