How was the equal rights amendment created?

Answer 1

While today the idea that women should have equal rights and equal opportunities is widely accepted in the United States (and many other countries as well), back in the 1700s and 1800s, US women were denied the right to vote, and were generally considered the property of their father or their husband under the law. While the majority of fathers and husbands did not treat the female members of their household abusively, there is evidence that some certainly did, and these laws made it difficult for women find justice. For example, in some states, married women who worked could not control their own salary-- it legally "belonged" to the husband, who could spend it any way he wished. A woman could also be beaten by her husband, and it was not considered a crime, since he had the right to "discipline" her.

As a result of these and other problems, there was a slow but steady demand by a number of women for greater fairness, the right to vote, and especially, a change in laws that treated married women as property. The demands began in earnest at a conference at Seneca Falls, NY in 1848, and for the next few decades, women in certain states (including some women lawyers) were able to make small changes in property laws or give married women more say in what their husband could or could not do. Women finally got the right to vote in 1920, but even after that, some women decided what was needed was a law that guaranteed equal rights to all women, married or single. Led by a famous feminist named Alice Paul, an Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution was proposed in 1923. It languished in congress for decades, and ultimately never was ratified by enough of the states. But along the way, women's roles did expand and other laws passed which eliminated many of the abuses Alice Paul and other early feminists fought against.