THE FIGHT FOR ERA ISN'T OVER 

Reported by Jessica Kozik

 

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) proposes that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." The amendment was passed by Congress in 1972, but has yet to be ratified by enough states -  three-fourths of the states (38) - for it to be added to the Constitution.

The proposed amendment was viewed as highly controversial, even by working women who potentially had the most to gain if it was passed. Working women, in particular, were afraid that they would lose the labor laws that they felt protected them. Labor laws existed that took into consideration that many working women were also mothers who had a second 'job' taking care of their children and the household. The laws capped the number of hours a woman could work and limited the amount of physical labor women could undertake. Some labor laws made women feel protected, although most still outwardly discriminated against women and led many to feel that they needed a better legal structure.

Addie Wyatt was a women's labor activist who struggled with her stance on this issue. Wyatt was a prominent voice in the labor movement. Herself an African American working woman, she began by opposing the passage of the ERA out of fear of worsening working conditions for women. Her stance changed, however, when the Southern Federal District Court of Illinois ruled that an Illinois law that limited women to working eight hours per day, forty-eight hours per work-week conflicted with the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act proved to be an opener for pro-ERA groups to persuade previously anti-ERA people like Wyatt that the ERA would further solidify women's rights under the U.S. Constitution. Wyatt began to see the ERA as "a step in the right direction in that it will announce to the nation that the United States of America has reaffirmed its belief not merely that all men are created equal, but that all PEOPLE are created equal."

Through her work with the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), which she helped found in 1974, Wyatt advocated for the ERA. She worked tirelessly to campaign for the passage of the amendment, especially in her own state, Illinois. She gave countless speeches, and even testified before the Illinois State Senate Executive Committee in 1973. Despite her work and dedication and that of many other activists and union groups in Illinois, the state is one of the remaining 14 states that have yet to ratify the amendment.

Fast-forwarding several decades, hope was reignited in 2014, when Illinois State Senator Heather Steans int roduced SJRCA74 into the Illinois Senate. The bill calls for the "ratification of the proposed equal rights amendment to the United States Constitution."  Senator Steans' approach toward passing ERA uses the three-state strategy that relies on the history of the passage of the Madison amendment . The Illinois Senate approved the bill by a vote of 39 - 11 and sent it on to the Illinois House. State Representative Lou Lang introduced the resolution into the Illinois House but no vote took place. However, Nevada ratified the ERA this past March. Now 36 of the 38 states needed have ratified the ERA. This year Senator Steans again introduced a resolution (SJRCA 4) proposing ERA ratification. It's out of committee but so far has gone no further. Still, Senator Steans believes there is a growing effort to get it passed.

 

Earlier activists, like the determined Addie Wyatt, who were behind the proposed amendment never lost their perseverance. The fight for the bill to be called to a vote in the Illinois House continues to this day. Jeanne Dauray, Illinois state coordinator for ERA Action, has stated that "It isn't going away."

Galvanize the Feminist Movement!

Reported by Alma Washington

On July 15th to 16th the United State of Women (USOW) held a two-day summit at McCormick Place called Galvanize Chicago. I attended as a guest of Katie Jordan, President of the Chicago Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW).

At the beginning of each day there were distinguished speakers such as Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Congressman Danny Davis, Congresswoman Robin Kelly, and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

The Chicago Galvanize Program was chaired by Valerie Jarrett, former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, and Tina Tchen, former Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama. It featured training programs in entrepreneurship, leadership, running for office, campaign management and grassroots organizing (which Katie and I selected).

The instructor from The Midwest Academy for our sessions focused on strategy and the process of supporting an issue or a political candidate. Our take-away thoughts were:

Over the past few months we've seen how effective community organizing can be. This summit

gave women an opportunity to come together and motivated us to keep fighting. It covered a

host of issues, both on the national scale and the local level in Chicago that affect women.

 

Katie and I left energized, ready to take action and with a better understanding of how to

further improve the State of Women in Society.

Fannie Lou Hamer 

A Woman of Perseverance

You've probably heard the quote, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired," but what you might not know is much about the extraordinary woman who said it. The words were spoken before the 1964 Democratic National Convention by Fannie Lou Hamer.

Fannie Lou Hamer's life was one of suffering and poverty. She was born in 1917, the youngest of 20 children, in rural Mississippi  to a family of sharecroppers. She went on to marry in 1944 and later to adopt two daughters with her husband. Hamer could not have children herself due to being sterilized without her consent during a minor surgery. This kind of deceitful procedure was common at the time among black women. It was dubbed the "Mississippi Appendectomy."

She and her husband spent most of their lives working on a plantation. Then in 1962, Hamer was ordered off the plantation after she had attempted to register to vote. Hamer's conviction and strength was not lost though, despite the challenges and losses she suffered.

She made her voice heard and brought attention to the suffering of herself and others living in a society dominated by racism. She went on to become a Civil Rights Activist  and worked to help African Americans register to vote and co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

The harder she tried to fight the oppressive society she existed in though, the more she suffered. In 1963, a bus that she and fellow activists were on was stopped. Frustrated, the activists decided to sit at the bus station's whites-only lunch counter. They were removed and arrested. While in jail, Hamer was viciously beaten by the police and fellow inmates. She was left with permanent damage to her body, but her soul remained resilient. She went on to speak before the Democratic National Convention where she described the arrest and expressed her feeling of being "sick and tired of being sick and tired."  

The fight against inequality is still far from over today, and her words still continue to ring true. She found her voice and never stopped using it. In times when activists find themselves to be "sick and tired..." they should look to the strength and conviction of people like Fannie.

Mother Jones Through Chicago

Autumn Guillotte wrote and led a walking tour on July 22 & 23, 2017, celebrating Mother Jones as a part of Chicago's labor history. On Sunday, 'Mother Jones' in the person of Brigid Duffy Gerace joined Ms. Guillotte on the tour. (See photo.)

The tour began in Grant Park at the Seated Lincoln, "the immortal Lincoln" who fought for the abolishment of chattel slavery. Mother Jones wished to abolish another crime, that of wage slavery. The tour continued to the shore of Lake Michigan where Mother Jones, working as a seamstress in the warm homes of the wealthy, looked through the plate glass window "at the poor, shivering wretches, jobless and hungry, walking along the frozen lake front." "My employers," she said, "seemed neither to notice nor to care." The tour ended at the Auditorium Theater where Mother spoke to the largest assembly of the Socialists of Chicago in 1903. (See tour handout.)

In her later years Mother Jones started a new way of agitating, bringing the entire family into the fight and rallying entire communities to support the workers. Her key message was for the women. She advised them to organize independently.

"You will never solve the problem until you let in the women. No nation is greater than its women." "When I call a union meeting, I make sure the women come. When they do, for the first time they hear and understand. Instead of returning to work, the women take up the fight, they continue the struggle and eventually the company must give in. . . .Women are fighters."