The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. This Amendment shall take effect two years after the day of ratification. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney has reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment largely in reaction to the hostile, anti-women environment fostered by the 104th Congress. Gains that we've made over the past several years are gradually being chisled away.
Judicial attitudes can shift.
The only way for women to achieve true equality in this country is to engrave the principle of gender equality in the U.S. Constitution. The ERA introduced in 1972 included a seven year deadline for ratification by the states. That deadline was increased to ten years. However, it fell three states short of approval. Maloney's ERA includes no deadline.