The fight for gender equality in the U.S. Constitution continues for the 100th year since the 1923 Seneca Falls Convention, where Alice Paul first introduced the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution. AAUW-Garrett Branch will be represented at the 2023 Seneca Falls Convention, July 21-23, along with representatives from all 50 states.
Says Judy Carbone, AAUW-Garrett Branch president, “I am proud to represent and stand on the shoulders of the women from Garrett County who fought for the 19th Amendment affording women the right to vote and who have continued the fight for full gender equality since. The right to vote was hard won a hundred years ago, but we clearly are not done attaining equality.”
Advocates of the ERA note that gender-based discrimination in areas such as employment, education, and reproductive healthcare has been weakened over the past decade by recent legislation and court rulings. To guarantee freedom from sex discrimination by the government it is necessary to enshrine the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution.
Maryland and Virginia advocates attending the Equal Rights Amendment Centennial Convention, hosted by GenerationRatify, in Seneca Falls, NY, will be meeting in Hagerstown, MD, on their way to the convention, on Thursday, July 20, 8:30 AM -10:00 AM, at the Starbucks at 17326 Valley Mall Road. They invite the public to learn more about the ERA, get swag, enjoy donuts and coffee, and join them in a joyful sendoff as they move on to Seneca Falls.
Volunteer advocates from VoteEquality, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), Generation Ratify, Maryland Chapter of National Organization of Women (NOW), and the League of Women Voters are joining forces to ensure that equality, democracy, and voting rights are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution with the publication of the ERA.
On July 19, the 28-foot branded VoteEquality RV nicknamed the Ruthless Voter Getter (RVG) will lead a caravan of supporters to educate people about the fully ratified, yet-to-be-published ERA. The caravan begins in Richmond, VA, and will travel to Hagerstown, MD; Williamsport, PA; Corning, NY; and Seneca Falls, NY. At each stop of the Ruthless Centennial Tour, volunteers and community organizers will register voters, engage in personal conversations about gender equality, and raffle ERA-inspired artwork from the Artists4ERA (www.artists4era.org) collection.
Says Tracy Lantz, President of AAUW Maryland, “I am proud of AAUW Maryland and its support of the 2023 Ruthless Centennial Tour. More importantly, I look forward to our organization continuing to stand with our sister organizations, especially the young people of Generation Ratify, as we work to end gender-based discrimination — in all its forms — through the long overdue publication of the ERA.”
Among the general public, gender equality and the Equal Rights Amendment are not partisan issues; in fact, 85% of American voters support Congressional action on the ERA.
“I’m attending the Seneca Falls Convention because it is where the women’s suffrage movement was set in motion. We are here now, more than one hundred years later, and we still have yet to affirm the 28th Amendment: the Equal Rights Amendment. We must continue fighting for its affirmation federally,” notes Chichi Lu, VoteEquality intern.
Mary Ann Gorman, ERA Task Force Chair of Maryland NOW states “Maryland NOW is proud to join the RVG caravan to the ERA Centennial Convention in Seneca Falls and continue in the centuries-old fight for gender equality. We will not rest until the ERA, passed 50 years ago and ratified three years ago, is fully affirmed by Congress, published in the Federal Register, and recognized as foundational to liberty for all Americans.”
It is past time for the US Constitution to protect all Americans — women, minorities, and LGBTQIA+. Together we can raise awareness, educate voters, and ensure the publication of the ERA in the US Constitution. The full VoteEquality RVG tour schedule is available online at VoteEquality.US/2023-Tour.
For more information on the ERA Centennial Convention, including purchasing tickets and to see the schedule, go to eventbrite.com/e/era-centennial-convention-tickets-461810366237.
