Congresswomen Bush and Pressley launch historic gender equality caucus

Congressional members are aiming to ensure that every U.S. citizen has equal rights despite their gender.

On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) led a press conference on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol to officially launch the Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 31: Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) speaks during a news conference to announce a joint resolution to affirm the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment on Capitol Hill on January 31, 2023 in Washington, DC. The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution meant to guarantee equal rights for all citizens regardless of sex or gender. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

If ratified into the U.S. constitution as the 28th amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) would ensure that a U.S. citizen cannot be denied equal rights on the basis of sex. 

While addressing the crowd, Bush said, “equality is overdue.”

“We are organizing Congress by launching this caucus to make sure that equality becomes enshrined in the supreme law of our land. It is time Congress makes constitutional gender equality a national priority,” she said.

Bush continued, “We’re here because, from the start, people like me and many of my constituents were intentionally written out of our nation’s founding document. That ain’t right. The absence of foundational equality allows discrimination to persist and injustice to fester.”

The congresswoman also addressed racial disparities in the workforce and said that women of color make much less than their male counterparts.

“On average, women make 77 cents on the dollar in comparison to men. We’ve heard that over and over again. So, as striking as this statistic sounds, it only really became real to me when I sat down and I actually did the math for myself in my own life and I realized exactly how much was missing,” she said.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 31: Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) speaks during a news conference to announce a joint resolution to affirm the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment on Capitol Hill on January 31, 2023 in Washington, DC. The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution meant to guarantee equal rights for all citizens regardless of sex or gender. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

She continued, “What does equal vision for the future look like? It looks like protection of abortion care. Accountability and justice for the one out of three women who experience some form of sexual violence…equality is overdue.”

Pressley addressed reporters and described the launching of the Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment as “epic.”

“It is timely and it is necessary with women and LGBTQ folks facing daily sexism, pregnancy discrimination, pay inequity, sexual violence, and persistent legislative attacks on our bodily autonomy. We need the ERA now,” she said.

Pressley continued, “I’m thinking a lot about my 14-year-old daughter, Cora, and how I do not want her to continue to live in a country in a world where we have so conflated and normalized the disparate treatment and outcomes and disparate access and the second-class status it is to be a woman in this society.”

According to the National Archives, in 1923, ERA was first introduced in Congress to ensure that women have equal legal rights to men; however, the legislation fell short of being ratified.

One hundred years after the amendment’s first introduction, Bush and Pressley said they wanted to ensure the amendment was finally enacted into law.

Many other congressional members stood in solidarity with the congresswomen at the press conference and shared their thoughts about gender inequality. 

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) told reporters that she stands by Pressley and Bush and their efforts to have ERA enacted into law. 

Lee said, “It’s not shocking to have a document that did not allow women the right to participate in our democracy through voting, let alone the right to have a land or a bank account until the 20th century, is in need of an update.”

A marcher holds a sign that says, “ERA USA” with stars on it] during the Woman’s March in the borough of Manhattan in NY on January 18, 2020, USA. (Photo by Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images)

The freshman congresswoman continued, “What is shocking is that in the year of our Lord 2023, we still have an update in our Constitution to include equal rights even in the face of nonstop attack from Republican politicians and judges hell-bent on tearing away our bodily autonomy, marriage equality and every other hard-fought right.”

Newly-elected Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) also attended the press conference and emphasized her need to ensure that her daughter will not have to stand on the front lines fighting for gender equality in the future.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of fighting the same fight that my mother, my grandmother, my great-grandmother fought. I will not leave those fights to my daughter or yours or our sons. With your help and our leadership, we will make this happen,” she said.

For those who oppose enacting the ERA into law, Bush asked, “Are you afraid of Black women, brown women, Asian women…Because we’ve been brilliant even in our oppression?”

She continued, “Because we’ve been fighters, and we’ve been excelling even with a foot on our necks. So, are you worried that we will, in turn, put our heels on yours? Oh, your sexism and misogyny are showing.”

In order for the ERA to be ratified into the U.S. Constitution, it must get a two-thirds vote in both the U.S. House and Senate. The amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of State legislatures.

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