WEBVTT

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For the women of Virginia
and the women of America, the
resolution has finally passed.

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[cheers]

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[NARRATOR:] Last January,
Virginia became the
latest state to ratify a
constitutional amendment

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that the country has
been fighting about
for nearly 100 years:

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the Equal Rights Amendment.

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But the move quickly
drew challenges....

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[REPORTER:] Five Republican
Attorneys General are
seeking to block an effort

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to see the Equal Rights
Amendment adopted into
the US constitution.

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[NARRATOR:] The heart of
the ERA is only 24 words.

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It would bar discrimination
on the basis of sex.

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And the story of its
long, circuitous path

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illustrates the changing debate
in America about women's rights.

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[NEWSREEL:] The most dramatic
step to date in woman's
campaign for equal rights.

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[NARRATOR:] In 1920, women had
just secured the right to vote.

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[NEWSREEL:] Women in Illinois
are quick to register and vote

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while energetic suffrage
adherents realize their
long campaign is over.

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[NARRATOR:] The struggle for
suffrage had taken decades.

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And the final few years had
pushed leaders like Alice Paul,

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a founder of the
National Woman's Party,

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to take radical
steps for the cause.

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[NEWSREEL:] Ms. Paul, a
dramatic campaigner, had gone
on a hunger strike earlier

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in an effort to force
congressional action.

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[NARRATOR:] But for
Paul, winning the vote
was just the beginning.

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Many states had laws that
made it difficult for
married women to work.

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If married women worked,
they didn't necessarily
own their own earnings.

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And they didn't have the same
rights as husbands and fathers
over their own children.

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So they thought that if they
had a constitutional amendment

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that made discrimination
against women illegal
and unconstitutional,

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that would be a huge step
towards women actually
being equal in society.

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[NARRATOR:] Paul and her
collaborators proposed
what became known as the
Equal Rights Amendment,

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and it was first introduced
into Congress in 1923.

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But the seemingly
straightforward idea

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raised concerns from
many of the women

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who had worked
together for suffrage.

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[SUK:] They were worried
that it would wipe out laws

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that they had worked
to get on the books

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to actually protect
women in the workplace.

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[NEWSREEL:] America at
the turn of the century.

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On the assembly
line, as in the home,

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a woman's work is never done.

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[NARRATOR:] Those special
protections for women,
like shorter work days,

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were hard won by progressive
reformers like Florence Kelley,

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and based on the
idea that women,

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particularly vulnerable
to exploitation,

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needed to be
treated differently.

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The reformers and labor
unions feared these
protections would be undercut

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by an amendment guaranteeing
equality of the sexes.

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[SUK:] That fear was
not unreasonable,

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because the Supreme Court
did strike down a law

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that guaranteed minimum
wages for women.

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They pointed to the fact
that women now have the
constitutional right to vote

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as evidence that sex
inequality was on its way out.

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[NARRATOR:] But for
people like Alice Paul,

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special labor protections
for one gender were at odds
with the idea of equality.

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[NARRATOR:] It was a
debate that would follow
the ERA through time

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as women entered the workforce
in increasing numbers....

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[NEWSREEL:] Employers find
that women can do many jobs as
well as men, some jobs better.

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[NARRATOR:] And Alice Paul
and the National Woman's Party
continued to press their case

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for the ERA over the
next four decades.

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[NEWSREEL:] Surrounded by
memories of suffragettes,
these ladies have pursued
the goal of a fair and

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equal break rate
for American women.

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[NARRATOR:] By the early 1970s,
labor opposition to the ERA was
receding, in part because labor

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protections were expanding
for both women and men.

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And with growing bipartisan
support in congress,
and momentum from

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The burgeoning
women's movement...

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Equal rights to have a job,
to have respect, to not be
viewed as a piece of Meat...

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[NARRATOR:] The calls
for the ERA were becoming
too powerful to ignore.

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[ALICE PAUL:] Gradually instead
of a little tiny cluster,
we now have 10 million women

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backing this particular
measure before Congress.

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[BELLA ABZUG:] We will settle
for nothing less in the ultimate
than equal representation

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in all levels of
political power.

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[NARRATOR:] Congresswoman
Martha Griffiths had
repeatedly introduced the ERA

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into the House over the years

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and finally succeeded
in forcing the Amendment
onto the floor in 1970,

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where the broad backing for
the measure soon became clear.

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[SUK:] Once it did
get a full debate,

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well over 90 percent
of the House actually
voted for the ERA.

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[NEWSREEL:] The House
today by the overwhelming
vote of 354 to 23,

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passed a proposed
constitutional amendment

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to guarantee equal
rights for women.

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[NARRATOR:] By 1972,
both the House and Senate
had passed the ERA.

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[NEWSREEL:] The agreement now
goes to the states and must
be ratified by 38 of them.

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[NARRATOR:] And within one
year, 30 states, out of the
38 needed, ratified it...

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but then, an opposition
movement emerged,

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led by conservative
Phyllis Schlafly.

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The wife has the legal right to
be a full-time wife and mother

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supported by her husband.

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[NARRATOR:] The campaign
found a receptive audience

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among women concerned about
changing gender roles.

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The major objection to
the equal rights amendment

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is that it would
take away from women

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rights and privileges
which they now have.

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[NARRATOR:] Schlafly's push
dovetailed with the rise of
the powerful religious Right,

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and ERA proponents were stunned.

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The women here now fear they
are facing an organized enemy,

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the Moral Majority and
conservative groups

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who have found a newly powerful
voice since the 1980 election.

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[NARRATOR:] In the
end, the amendment
fell three states short

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when the ratification
period expired in 1982.

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The chimes strike at midnight
for ratification of the ERA.

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At that moment the
ERA becomes DOA.

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[NARRATOR:] But now over
three decades later,

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as the number of women in
Congress and State Houses
reaches a record high,

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a new generation is
reviving the ERA.

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There is only one
way to spell equality

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and that is simply ERA.

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[NARRATOR:] Women in
the Nevada, Illinois and
Virginia legislatures
are leading the fight.

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[REPORTER:] In the wake
of the MeToo movement and
the fight for equal pay,

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the ERA came back to life.

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What do we want?
Equal rights!

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When do we want it?
Now!

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[REPORTER:] Democrats in
Congress are pushing for its
addition to the Constitution.

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[NARRATOR:] The House of
Representatives voted to
remove the 1982 deadline.

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But Senate Republicans and
the Trump administration
remain opposed.

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And there's also the
question of the five states

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that have tried to rescind their
ratifications of the amendment.

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[SUK:] Ongoing litigation
makes it unclear when
or if it will be added.

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[NARRATOR:] Today, a
century after the ERA
was first conceived,

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it continues to hang in limbo.

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Over the decades, women have
made gains through other
changes in laws and policies.

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But the need for
ratification remains

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for many of the women at the
center of the struggle now --

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as a way to recognize the
work that's come before,

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and to ensure women's
rights going forward.

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When you enshrine my
constitutional rights,

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as a human being equal to men,

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well then that is the only
thing that's acceptable.

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Persistence, faith, and
hope fuel the indomitable
spirit of this movement.

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We got tired but
we did not faint.

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We became weary but
we did not stop.

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History demands that
we take a stand.

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The struggle continues
and the work is not done.