Equal Rights Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was drafted by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman.
ERA was founded on the premise that equality of rights under the law should not be denied by
the United States or any state based on sex (Soule & Olzak, 2004). It also proposed to give
Congress has the power to make legislation that would ensure equality and eliminate any
discrimination based on sex. The main aim of the ERA was to ensure that the rights of
women were guaranteed under the Constitution. The amendment would ensure that women who
were discriminated against based on sex would have appropriate remedies under the law.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States aimed at guaranteeing
equality under the law. The Equal Protection clause in the Fourteenth Amendment provides that
no state shall deny any American citizen the equal protection of the laws.
The Equal Rights Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment have
differences. The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment did not envision sex equality. For one to
understand the Fourteenth Amendment in the context of sex equality, a dynamic and broad
interpretation is required (Amar, 1991). A departure from the original understanding of the
The Fourteenth Amendment is needed to ensure that men and women are given equal opportunities
under the law. On its part, the Equal Rights Amendment was designed to complement the
Nineteenth Amendment. The aim was to promote women’s rights and have the Constitution
recognize equality. The framers aimed at having both men and women recognized as equal under
the law. To this end, the Fourteenth Amendment and the Equal Rights Amendment dealt with
separate issues.

References

Amar, A. R. (1991). The bill of rights and the fourteenth amendment. Yale LJ, 101, 1193.
Soule, S. A., & Olzak, S. (2004). When do movements matter? The politics of contingency and
the equal rights amendment. American Sociological Review, 69(4), 473-497.