Women won the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment.

Four years later, in 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment was proposed, stating simply, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

It took 49 years for it to be passed by Congress. As a proposed amendment to the Constitution, it was sent to the states for ratification. In the first year, 30 of the necessary 38 states ratified it. But the ratification process slowed, due in no small part to organized resistance, and by 1977, 35 states had approved it. President Jimmy Carter, a supporter of the ERA, extended the 1978 deadline to 1982. His opponent in the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan, had supported the amendment as the California governor, calling i

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