ERA Countdown

Each day when the Illinois legislature is in session, women costumed as suffragists in blouses and long skirts hold a silent vigil in the state capitol. The women, like many others, are waiting for the legislators to vote on the Equal Rights Amendment. ERA will die if not approved by 38 states before March 22,1979, and Illinois, the one Northern industrial state yet to pass the measure, could be the 36th. Ratification there would keep alive the amendment's slim chance of approval before the deadline. Even ERA supporters concede that defeat in Illinois would make it nearly impossible for them to persuade three other state legislatures to go along. In that case, the amendment could only be saved by a congressional vote to extend the deadline beyond next March.

The Illinois general assembly has voted on the amendment every year since 1972, but so far it has failed to win the required three-fifths approval in both houses. During the 1976 session, it was defeated in the senate by a mere seven votes. President Carter took up the cause before the legislature, saying, "What you do here in this chamber over the next few weeks might very well determine whether women have equal rights under the U.S. Constitution."

ERA supporters in Illinois have adopted a savvy approach to politicking. The usually nonpartisan League of Women Voters has joined the ERA backers. The women of the League have hired three of the state's toughest lobbyists, one of them, Gerald Shea, a former Illinois house majority leader who has close ties to the Chicago Democratic machine.

Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic has endorsed ERA, and Republican Governor James Thompson called for ratification in his State of the State address this year, but many Illinois politicians regard the ERA issue as a political time bomb and have been reluctant to apply their political muscle on its behalf.

To take advantage of the momentum they have been building over the past few months, ERA supporters agree that the issue must come to a vote before the legislative session closes on June 30. A number of representatives continue to waver, however, and the amendment's supporters are wary of calling for a vote until they are sure they have maximum support. Worries League of Women Voters Lobbyist Gloria Craven: "Taking a stand on an issue like this in an election year is tough." Regardless of what happens, Naomi Ross of the National Organization for Women maintains that ERA'S foes "will be very sorry they made us work this hard. Women are in politics in Illinois as they've never been before, and we're never getting out again." qed

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