Some of you may think of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as being from a bygone age. But in fact, potential realization of the ERA is very much alive. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) plan to introduce a resolution on Thursday, May 9 that would eliminate the 1982 deadline originally established to ratify the Act. At present, the ERA is just three states short of being ratified. Should the deadline be lifted, ratification by any three of the remaining states at any time would be sufficient to make the ERA official.
If 31 years seems like a long time for the ERA, please note that the Madison Amendment, concerning Congressional pay raises, became the 27th Amendment to the Constitution in 1992. That was a whopping 203 years after its introduction. Thus, there is sufficient precedent for the ERA to follow a similar (if much shorter path) in becoming a reality. That would be another crucial step along the path of true gender equity.
