Why We’re Still Fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment
October 09, 2024
Partner update curated by AJ Conroy
Advocates and leaders are working hard to review the state statutes in North Carolina!
The General Statutes of North Carolina runs approximately 47,000 pages long. An initial report by the law firm Winston and Strawn recommends edits to all but about 2,000 pages of the state code. Wow!
While the bulk of these changes will make the language neutral and inclusive, younger lawyers working on the project were shocked to see statutes on the contracting rights of married women.
“Seventy attorneys from prominent international law firm Winston & Strawn have volunteered more than 800 hours so far to comb through North Carolina’s statutes. The law firm will eventually turn the project over to the North Carolina Bar Association to make recommendations to the NCGA.”
From the NC ERA Alliance
The NC ERA Alliance held a press conference on the needed changes to state statutes at the General Assembly last week in honor of ERA Day, January 27 2022. You can watch the full press conference on their Facebook page!
And in case you missed it, a stellar OpEd was published last week by two NC legislators who want to get women back into the workforce by publishing the Equal Rights Amendment. Thank you to State Representative Julie Von Haefen and State Senator Natalie Murdock for making the economic case for equality:
"If we are going to prepare our economy for a full recovery, where women are able to fully return to the workforce, then we need to publish the 28th Amendment and force states, like North Carolina, to reckon with their failure to pass laws that guarantee adequate accommodations for pregnant people in the workplace and paid family leave for parents with young children."
From the News & Observer OpEd
Header image courtesy of NC ERA Alliance
