hump day is for the ladies

so, here’s a fun fact…

…in order for a constitutional amendment to become “a thing” in the modern vernacular, it has to pass both the senate AND the house AND be ratified by thirty-eight states. keep that in mind, it comes in handy in a second.

back in 1923, which is NINETY-SEVEN years ago in case you suck at math, the ERA, or equal rights amendment, was proposed. in the bare bones definition, it guarantees all the rights of the constitution to both men AND women. ya see, the founding fathers were just that…fathers. women were not equal citizens. think about it like this – when the constitution was conceived women, or at least white women, were looked at as human beings, while nobody black was…they were property. like upright livestock. and yet black men were granted the same rights as white men, albeit with a little skirmish called “the civil war” resulting from said proclamation, and could even vote, all before white women (or any women) could.

and the right to vote? that’s the only right actually guaranteed to women by the constitution – all the others, including free speech, bear arms, etc, etc, are technically just for us men folk.

so why is this the discussion now? well, because while the ERA was proposed back in 1923, it didn’t get passed for a bit…a long bit…like i was already born kinda long bit. so, in 1972 it passed both branches of congress, but still had to be ratified by thirty-eight states to make it into the constitution, and due to the the time it took to get this far they set a deadline of ten years for it to get the votes – but only thirty-FIVE states ratified it, not the thirty-eight it needed.

during the seventies and eighties a certain supreme court justice rallied to extend all the rights of the fourteenth amendment to protect women as well, but that doesn’t do squat for equal pay, sexual harassment, or violence against women. to nobody’s surprise, i’m sure, said justice was the notorious r.b.g.

and there we sat…until 2017, when nevada finally ratified it, followed by illinois in 2018 (i can proudly say that texas did so back before i even reached my first birthday in march of 1972). but it took till last month for virginia to finally come on board, finally sealing the deal…but did it do so thirty-eight years too late? they call the date “arbitrary” in everything i read, but with the bullshit that congress pulls these days…

(*coughs out ‘trump is guilty’* and it should be noted this is being finished up on january 29th at 12:30pm before the senate reads its inevitable “not guilty” verdict despite evidence, witnesses, etc, because the golden orangutan party has the votes to do it and is in lockstep behind their führer per usual)

…will it finally make it in? my guess is no because it doesn’t do anything for wealthy white guys, but let’s sit back and watch, shall we?