[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 31 (Tuesday, March 15, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2744-S2745]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. 
        Corzine, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Mikulski, 
        Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Levin, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Schumer, 
        Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Harkin, and Mr. Dodd):
  S.J. Res. 7. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States relative to equal rights for men and 
women; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, today, Senators Murray, Cantwell, 
Corzine, Kerry, Lieberman, Sarbanes, Mikulski, Boxer, Lautenberg, 
Durbin, Schumer, Levin, Feinstein, Harkin, Dodd and I are re-
introducing the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. In doing 
so, we reaffirm our strong commitment to equal rights for men and 
women.
  Adoption of the ERA is essential to guarantee that the freedoms 
protected by our Constitution apply equally to men and women. From the 
beginning of our history as a nation, women have had to wage a 
constant, long and difficult battle to win the same basic rights 
granted to men. It was not until 1920 that the Constitution was amended 
to guarantee women the right to vote, and still today discrimination 
continues in other ways. Statutory prohibitions against discrimination 
have clearly failed to give women the assurance of full equality they 
deserve.
  Despite passage of the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act in the 
1960s, discrimination against women continues to permeate the workforce 
and many areas of the economy. Today, women earn less than 76 cents for 
each dollar earned by men, and the gap is even greater for women of 
color. In the year 2000, African American women earned just 64 percent 
of the earnings of white men, and Hispanic women earned only 54 
percent.
  Women with college and professional degrees have achieved advances in 
a number of professional and managerial occupations in recent years--
yet more than 60 percent of working women are still clustered in a 
narrow range of traditionally female, traditionally low-paying 
occupations, and female-headed households continue to dominate the 
bottom rungs of the economic ladder.
  The routine discrimination that so many women still face today makes 
clear that the Equal Rights Amendment is needed now more than ever. 
Passage of the ERA by Congress will reaffirm our strong commitment to 
genuine equality for all women in this new century.
  A bolder effort is clearly needed to enable Congress and the States 
to live up to our commitment of full equality. The ERA alone cannot 
remedy all discrimination, but it will clearly strengthen the ongoing 
efforts of women across the country to obtain equal treatment.
  We know from the failed ratification experiences of the past that 
including the ERA in the Constitution will not

[[Page S2745]]

be easy to achieve. But its extraordinary significance requires us to 
continue the battle. I urge my colleagues to approve the ERA in this 
Congress, and join the battle for ratification in the states. Women 
have waited too long for full recognition of their equal rights by the 
Constitution.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of our joint resolution be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the joint resolution was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                              S. J. Res. 7

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of 
     each House concurring therein), That the following article is 
     proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United 
     States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as 
     part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of 
     three-fourths of the several States:

                              ``Article --

       ``Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be 
     denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
     account of sex.
       ``Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, 
     by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
       ``Section 3. This article shall take effect 2 years after 
     the date of ratification.''.
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