Twilight of the ERA Era

With time running out, women rally round the amendment "What do we want? ERA! When do we want it? Now!"

On a single day last week, the cry went up in 181 cities across the nation to kick off a final drive for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Only one year remains until the deadline set by Congress. Supporters of ERA chanted in New York, prayed in Atlanta, held candlelight vigils in Fort Lauderdale. The stars came out in Los Angeles (Singer Helen Reddy), in Boston (Author Jules Feiffer) and in Denver (former First Lady Betty Ford). In Washington, D.C., a crowd of 2,500 cheered when Actor Alan Alda declared: "You don't have to be conservative to be against ERA, you just have to be wrong."

But beneath the high-flying rhetoric and green and white balloons, there was frustration and despair. As the clock runs out, the ERA movement remains at a standstill. In Manhattan, Pioneer Feminist Betty Friedan called for "an emergency mobilization." But even she conceded: "It's going to take a miracle."

Five years ago, victory seemed assured for the amendment.* It passed Congress in 1972 and in the following five years was ratified by 35 state legislatures --just three short of the necessary 38. But there it stopped, stymied by the energetic campaigning of "Stop ERA" forces headed by Right-Wing Activist Phyllis Schlafly of Alton, Ill., and by the increasingly conservative turn in the nation's mood.

Though ERA lobbyists won a three-year extension of the original ratification deadline, which expired in 1979, they failed to profit by it. In fact, three states have voted to rescind their approval of the amendment, though such recisions are of questionable validity. Last year the movement suffered another blow with the election of Ronald Reagan, who claims to "support the E and the R, but not the A." Said Schlafly at a press conference last week: "ERA is a cadaver that we have to keep pushing back into the coffin."

But those who gathered around the country last week came to praise ERA, not to bury it. They also came to raise $15 million to resurrect the cause. In speech after speech at the 181 rallies, which were sponsored by the National Organization for Women (NOW), partisans assailed what Friedan called "the big lies" propagated by Schlafly's group. ERA, they explained, will not mean the sharing of public toilets, approval of homosexual marriage or breakup of the family. Repeatedly, optimistic speakers predicted a profeminist backlash from Ronald Reagan's policies.

The President, declared Jules Feiffer in Boston to noisy approval, "is making the world safe for white, male, heterosexual millionaires. Women have rights too."

The real test for ERA supporters will come not in Massachusetts or New York, where the amendment has already been approved by state legislators, but in places where ratification may be just within reach. NOW, says its president, Eleanor Smeal, is focusing on Illinois, North Carolina, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma and Virginia. It hopes to strengthen its efforts in these states by enlisting the aid of older women and others not previously involved. Explains Activist Nellie Duke of Atlanta: "Georgia doesn't really accept NOW. You have to approach people where they are in a way that is palatable." ERA supporters are quick to point out that polls show 60% of Americans favor the amendment. Still, admits Smeal, "The odds are against us. If people want this, they are going to have to work as never before."

* Which states: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

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