Precinct Resolutions

It’s precinct meeting time! Here is a non-partisan resolution in support of North Carolina’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment for you to use this to introduce at your precinct meetings toward getting the Equal Rights Amendment into your party’s platform. You can also download the resolution here.

 

A Resolution Calling for Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (2022)

WHEREAS, women, who constitute over 51% of the population of North Carolina (N.C.), play an essential and irreplaceable role in society, contributing to our economy and advancing our nation in both public and private realms; and

WHEREAS, women continue to confront workplace discrimination, wage inequities, health care inequities, higher rates of poverty, rape and domestic violence assaults, a lack of political parity, and other forms of sex-based discrimination; and

WHEREAS, state and federal anti-discrimination laws are not uniform or comprehensive, and can be repealed, amended, or ineffectively applied by the courts; and

WHEREAS, the federal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was proposed in 1923 and passed by Congress in 1972; has met the constitutional requirement for ratification by 38 states with the approval of Nevada (2017), Illinois (2018), and Virginia (2020); and is awaiting certification by the U.S. Archivist pending resolution of issues regarding a time limit in its preamble rather than its text, which time limit can be removed by Congress, removal having been passed by bipartisan vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 17, 2021 but is pending in the U.S. Senate, and five state rescissions, which by precedent have never been recognized as valid; and

WHEREAS, the ERA is essential for correcting systemic sex discrimination, since it would guarantee that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex”; and

WHEREAS, ERA ratification bills were introduced in the N.C. General Assembly in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we call on the N.C. General Assembly to pass the bills ratifying the ERA in order to join the growing list of states supporting a guarantee of equal constitutional rights to all citizens without regard to their sex; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we call on the U.S. Senate to support the validity of certification by the Archivist by joining with the U.S. House, passing the bipartisan bill: SJR1, removing the time limit on the states for ratification; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that we commit ourselves to advocate at federal and state levels to ensure that the ERA is added to the U.S. Constitution in order to guarantee equal rights under the law to all citizens without regard to their sex.

ORGANIZATION _____________________________________________________________

DATE ADOPTED _____________________________________________________________

SIGNATURE, TITLE ___________________________________________________________

Resources: ERA-NC.org; Roberta W. Frances, ERA Education Consultant, Alice Paul Institute