We need to keep moving forward.
by Betty Folliard  (as posted in the StarTribune August 23)

Another Women's Equality Day will come and go Aug. 26, and still no equality for women is in sight.

What have we seen? The regression of our rights.

And what actions toward equality of rights for every citizen have been taken to move our state and country toward a more perfect union? At the state level, not a whole heap.

​In the Minnesota House, early action took place this past session to pass Equal Rights Amendment bills through a host of committees, but an anti-choice majority in that chamber prevented House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, from calling for votes on the House floor.

In the Minnesota Senate, far-right conservative white men, clinging to the last throes of a patriarchal structure that has dominated for so long, refused to even meet with activists to entertain the notion of a conversation about the idea of legalizing equality.

More forward motion on equal rights is playing out at the federal level. This year the U.S. House passed legislation to remove the arbitrary time limit imposed on the ERA last century; similar action awaits Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, permitting a vote in the U.S. Senate.

Meanwhile, many state attorneys general, along with over 200 women's rights and justice organizations, top constitutional law experts, 86 major corporations and others are suing to finally publish the now-ratified Equal Rights Amendment. The sticking point remains a memo sent from the Trump administration to the National Archivist preventing said department from doing its ministerial duty to publish the ERA.

But hope is on the horizon.

The recent Supreme Court Dobbs decision removing not just our reproductive rights but effectively obliterating 14th Amendment rights has awakened a sleeping public. In response, women are registering in record numbers to vote in this election. This bodes well for electing equality this November.

What can the average citizen do to advance equality for people with uteruses? Easy: Ask candidates whether they will champion the Equal Rights Amendment if elected. Then hold them accountable. Vote progressive women into office. Then support their efforts to move America toward a more just society.

Vote equality. Elect equality.

Then maybe, just maybe, come next year's Women's Equality Day we will actually have something to celebrate.

Betty Folliard, of Minneapolis, is a former state representative and president emeritus of ERA Minnesota.

ERAMN is a partner with the ERA Coalition, which was founded in 2014 as a national organization to bring concerted organized action to the effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. 

Comprising more than 120 partner and supporter organizations across the country, the ERA Coalition provides education on, and advocacy for, Constitutional equality.
 
ERA Coalition Announces First Slate of Federal Candidates with ERA Certification Stamp of Approval.

Go to ERA Coalition "Elect Equality" webpage to see if Minnesota federal candidates support the ERA :  https://www.eracoalition.org/electequality

Go to ERA Coalition "Take Action" webpage to: 
1) Contact Senator Chuck Schumer to support the ERA.
2) Recognize the ERA as the 28th Amendment.

What you can do...
Social distancing, distance learning, job loss, economic insecurity  ~ these are just a few of the many issues that have become front and center while our world is rocked by the Coronavirus.  

Women are more than 1/2 of the single parent wage earners, 2/3 of minimum wage earners, 2/3 of tip-workers and 2/3 of seniors living in poverty.  Add to that women statistically having a longer life-expectancy and make up a higher number of the population living alone.

What does this mean in the time of a pandemic?

Women in this country statistically make up more than 90% of the nurses in our healthcare system, over 75% of caregivers in our homes and care facilities, as well as make up a significant percent of doctors.  It means that women are at the forefront of the fight and are still not being treated equally under the law in terms of equitable pay, retirement benefits or receiving access to affordable healthcare and childcare.

While our state and national governments are working hard to fight COVID-19, we must remember those who are on the front lines of the war and support them with equal rights under the law.

What can you do to help the ERA?

Contact leadership in the Minnesota and US Senate and tell them to support passage of the Equal Rights Amendment into the US and Minnesota constitutions.  

ACT NOW HERE

What can you do about the virus?

Follow the guidelines of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the MN Department of Health: 

• keep your distance
• wash your hands
• stay home 

Additional Resources From Our Allies
Here are links to COVID-related resources as provided by some of ERA Minnesota's allies:

Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan:
https://mn.gov/governor/news/

Education Minnesota: 
https://educationminnesota.org/resources/in-the-classroom/Coronavirus

Minnesota AFL-CIO:
https://www.mnaflcio.org/updates/coronavirus-covid-19-information

Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE):
https://mape.org/covid-19

Outfront Minnesota:
https://www.outfront.org/

Third Thursdays:
Keep an eye on our calendar for upcoming Virtual Third Thursday events: 
https://www.eramn.org/events.html

ACTION ALERT: 1-MINUTE EFFORT

Click below to send a clear message to your US Senators & Congress Member to sign onto #ERA ”Delete the Deadline” Resolutions‼️

SJRes6: Sponsor Senator Cardin seems to be taking a balanced approach to co-sponsors. So far there’s himself (D), 2 R’s, & 1 I on the bill. Both Klobuchar & Smith signed on last Session, and should get on this year.

H.J.Res.38: Here in MN, thus far only Craig, Omar & McCollum are signed on. There are a record 182 Co-sponsors on the bill❣️

Let’s give ‘em a nudge. 

Go HERE to send your message now!

PRESS Release:  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   January 24, 2019
Contact:   Heather Allison (651) 214-1702 heather@eramn.org
                    Betty Folliard  (612) 868-3511 betty.folliard@gmail.com
                
The ERA is in the House
                   
ST PAUL, MINN – ERA Minnesota (ERA MN www.eramn.org) is thrilled to announce that for the first time in decades the Minnesota House will hold hearings on Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) bills today -- January 24th, 2019 before the Government Operations Committee, SOB Room 10 at 9:45 AM.
 
There are two ERA bills to be heard in the Government Operations Committee that day: first (HF13), a Minnesota State ERA amendment to the state constitution bill chief-authored by Representative Mary Kunesh-Podein; and second (HF71), is a Resolution to Congress to remove the deadline on the federal ERA chief-authored by Representative Rena Moran. Both bills have companion bills introduced today in the Senate: the MN State ERA SF200 (Cohen) and the ERA Resolution to Congress SF208 (Pappas).
 
HF13/SF200 -- the constitutional amendment -- would  provide for gender equality under the law and proposes a constitutional amendment that, if passed by both bodies of the Minnesota Legislature, would be added to the ballot in the 2020 general election for the voters to decide on the outcome. 2020 has special significance because it coincides with the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage – the year women achieved the right to vote.
 
“This state ERA is long overdue,” says Heather Allison, President of ERAMN. “25 states already have passed ERA’s into their state constitutions – the oldest having been written over 140 years ago.”
 
HF71/SF208 is a resolution memorializing Congress to remove the “June 30th 1982” deadline  so that once the 38th state ratifies the ERA it can be ratified into the U.S. Constitution.
 
“95% of Minnesotans believe everyone should have equal rights,” said Betty Folliard, Founder of ERAMN. “We’re grateful to the Legislature for this opportunity to make equal legal.”
 
ERA Minnesota is a coalition of thousands of activists and organizations from every corner of the state dedicated to embedding an Equal Rights Amendment into our state and national constitutions to ensure that all citizens are protected from discrimination on the basis of sex.
 
“Pay inequity, workplace gender discrimination, domestic violence, rape & campus sexual assault, female poverty, pregnancy discrimination, and laws that unjustly affect men will all be helped by an ERA;” says M. Kathleen Murphy, VP of ERAMN & Founder of CAFE Coalition; “that’s why the ERA is so badly needed.”

ERA Minnesota is a coalition of thousands of activists and organizations from every corner of the state dedicated to embedding an Equal Rights Amendment into our state and national constitutions to ensure that all citizens are protected from discrimination on the basis of sex. 

March in a parade this weekend!  We are participating in 2 great events this weekend -- the Cinco de Mayo Parade (Saturday, May 5 @ 10 am)  and the May Day Parade (Sunday, May 6 @ 12 noon).  We would love it if you would join us marching in the parades! 
​Contact Heather if you'd like to march.  Heather @ ERAmn.org.