Women’s Rights movement spreads across North Carolina

Municipalities unanimously pass Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Resolutions

Durham, NC – Several municipalities passed unanimous resolutions in November of this year supporting an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The Durham and Orange County Commissions along with the City of Winston-Salem adopted ERA resolutions at regular business sessions on the 14, 15 and 21^st, respectively. They join Durham City Council, which demonstrated its support by passing a resolution in October. Area residents petitioned their local council and county representatives on behalf of the ERA-NC Alliance, which launched in April of 2016.

The passage of the resolutions marks an historic path for the citizens of the state who seek to re-engage the state legislature toward ensuring the full equality of women in the United States Constitution.

In 1972 a proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed both houses of the U.S. Congress and was sent to the states for ratification. By a 1982 deadline, only 35 of the required 38 states had ratified the ERA. North Carolina was one of the states that failed to ratify the ERA. However, the state is becoming a leader in a new movement to pass the ERA.

Jennifer Miller, an Orange County www.onlinepharmacytabs.com resident and visual artist with a studio in Hillsborough, petitioned her commissioners to pass the resolution. She is concerned about “the young women today who assume they are equal citizens under the law.”  Miller believes they face a different picture as they enter the work place and begin raising families. “They expect the same career and family trajectory as their male counterparts, but the reality can differ.” The difference can include sexual harassment in the workplace, domestic violence in the home and sexual violence in the community. Sadly, such injustice is often magnified in the courts, where women’s lack of unequivocal constitutional protection under the law allows these discriminatory practices to persist.

Diana Gray, a resident of Winston-Salem, who petitioned her city council to pass an ERA resolution, praised Councilwoman Molly Leight, who introduced the resolution, “She won my admiration when she passionately told the Council that the City of Winston-Salem must take this action because it is the right thing to do.” Gray insisted that, “We must persist in putting ratification of the ERA before our elected officials, especially in this uncertain political climate. “

The Alliance will be taking the ERA campaign to other cities and counties across the state.

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