I need the ERA because…paid care is a right – gender equality and the care economy

For more than a century, feminists have realized that omitting sex discrimination from the Constitution presents a major barrier to achieving true gender equality in the United States. However, the effort to ensure legal equality within the US wages on.

In the US, norms and stereotypes about women’s caregiving are perpetuated by a lack of legal equality on the basis of sex or gender, including without the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the Constitution, too often resulting in discrimination in terms of equal pay, family leave, and positions within the formal labor market.

The United States must recognize and provide resources and tax regimes that support those who provide and receive care, taking a substantive equality or human rights-based and feminist approach to make work and family care needs compatible.

As part of our I Need the ERA because… campaign, we also take a closer look at how the ERA would grant the legislative branch clear constitutional authority to enact positive protections such as the right to receive and provide care and laws that provide social protections for long-term care and health.