Has the equal rights amendment been passed?

Yes, it should be ratified. The Equal Rights Amendment states:

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

It is a simple statement that would define the meaning of "We the people" to include the majority of the population--that is women. We do not have a statement in our Constitution which guarantees women the same rights and responsibilities that all men have by viture of them being born male. The only guaranteed right that women have under our Constitution is the right to vote--which they had to fight for for almost 80 years.

Most Americans believe that men and women should have legal equality and 77 percent believe this should be stated in the Constitution of the United States.

The majority of Americans consider legal equality a fundamental right which needs to be codified and made explicit in our Constitution.

The results of ERA ratification would be that gender discrimination would enjoy the same legal status as discrimination based on race and religion--that is, that sex would become a "suspect class" like race and religion. A suspect class enjoys heightened scrutiny by the courts. This means that when a case of discrimination is considered the onus of proof rests with the entity being charged and not with the victim. When race became a suspect class, race discrimination in the workplace began to diminish and consequently our society no longer tolerates race discrimination. The ERA would afford gender the same potential for addressing sex discrimination in our society.