Why did the National Organization for Women promote the passage of the Equal Rights Amendments?

Answer 1

Long before there was a National Organization for Women (it was founded in 1966), there were feminists who advocated for an Equal Rights Amendment. Among the earliest was Alice Paul, back in 1923. In fact, throughout the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, there were sporadic efforts to pass such an amendment, but without any success. NOW was founded by some major figures in the feminist movement of the 1960s (today called "Second Wave Feminists"); its leaders included Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. The members of NOW believed that the only way to assure equality for women under the law was to get an equal rights amendment passed. They were concerned that legal protections for women varied from state to state, and an equal rights amendment would mean that women would receive equal protection no matter where they lived.

Even in the 1960s, there were still a number of states where women (especially married women) were not treated equally. For example, that if they worked, whatever they earned belonged to their husband; also, in some states, wife-beating was still not treated as a crime, but rather, as a failure of the woman to make her husband happy. Many women, including members of NOW, believed that an Equal Rights Amendment would make sure women were protected, as well as taken seriously. But not everyone was convinced. Unfortunately, due to misinformation and scare tactics from conservatives, a backlash against the amendment emerged. And although it came so close to passing in the late 1970s (even First Lady Betty Ford advocated for it), in the end, it failed to be ratified.

Answer 2

The ERA would guarantee gender equality under the law.