Women Still Waiting
By MAS HASHIMOTO
The 2018 movie, “On the Basis of Sex,” chronicled the struggles of Ruth Bader Ginsburg - played by Felicity Jones - for equal justice in the case, Moritz v. IRS, where a federal court ruled, for the first time, that gender discrimination is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. A “radical social change” occurred. A judge reminded Ginsburg that the word, woman, does not appear in the Constitution. Ginsburg replied neither does the word, freedom.
In 1870, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by many states. It stated, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
While a great progressive movement went forward, what single three-letter word was notably absent in this Amendment? Sex! And, “Jim Crow” laws continued to be the norm in nearly all southern states. The poll tax, a tax that had to be paid before you could vote, was not eliminated until the passage of the 24th Amendment as late as 1964!
Women waited another 50 years for the passage in 1920 of the 19th Amendment that stated, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
And, women and men, too, today are still waiting for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment that states, “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 Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972 and sent to the states for ratification. In order to be added to the Constitution, it needed approval by legislatures in three-fourths (38) of the 50 states. By 1977, the legislatures of 35 states had approved the amendment. In 1978, Congress voted to extend the original March 1979 deadline to June 30, 1982. However, no additional states voted yes before that date, and the ERA fell three states short of ratification.
The 15 states that did not ratify the Equal Rights Amendment before the 1982 deadline were from the “Deep South:” Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Virginia. That should not have been a surprise. But add to the list, two western states, Nevada, and Utah, plus Illinois.
Then, 45 years to the day in 2017 after Congress passed the ERA, Nevada became the 36th state to ratify it. On May 30, 2018, Illinois became the 37th state. On Monday, January 27, 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.
Meanwhile, five states had rescinded their ratifications: Nebraska on March 15, 1973; Tennessee on April 23, 1974; Idaho on February 8, 1977; Kentucky on March 20, 1978; and South Dakota on March 5, 1979. However, there is no provision in the Constitution for withdrawing a state’s ratification. The ERA is in limbo.
If it had passed, discrimination of unequal hiring, wages, benefits, housing, et al would be constitutionally illegal.
A great champion for women’s rights in this century has been Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It would be fitting if it was named in her honor, the “Ruth Bader Ginsburg Equal Rights Amendment”.
Here are stories of local women who struggled for equal rights. My mother, Nami Hashimoto (1893-1972), an immigrant in 1914 from Japan, was a fighter for women’s rights. Her husband, my father, died in 1938 before my third birthday. She had given birth to seven boys. She was married for 24 years and a widow for 34 years. I grew up in a matriarchal family.
In 1940, my mother, while washing clothes, noticed a strange, white towel. She asked the family members about this towel. My older brother had brought it home from his high school PE class. She made him take it back and apologize to the PE teacher. She called all of us together and stated, “Hashimotos do not steal. We’re not so poor we can’t afford towels.” We were of course poor, but not without honor.
After WW II, I worked in the fields picking strawberries for my college fund. During the “summer vacations,” I worked for 85 cents an hour alongside my mother. “Mrs. A,” an elderly Issei mother and a neighbor, may not have been the most careful strawberry worker, but she was grateful for the opportunity to earn money. So grateful that she worked through the 10 am and 3 pm ten-minute breaks. The “boss” once criticized her work in front of us, and my mother was the first to jump to her defense! The manner in which she talked to the “boss,” I thought for sure the Hashimotos were going to be fired. But I was so proud of my mother. Other workers chimed in, and the “boss” apologized and backed off. My mother, a fighter, would have been a union organizer. Years later, her son was to become a union organizer and co-founder, one of the “dirty dozen,” of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers (PVFT 1936) of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District.
Jean Pogue was my math teacher and later a teaching colleague at Watsonville High. She strongly believed that girls and women could do anything that boys and men could do. Before Title IX, a federal civil rights law that forbade discrimination based on sex in any activity or educational activity that received Federal financial assistance, she started a high school ski club in 1965, the “SnoCatz,” named after the Watsonville High Wildcatz, that was for both boys and girls. Title IX was first drafted by Japanese American Representative Patsy T. Mink of Hawaii and was signed into law June 23, 1972.
In 1962, I started a bowling club, the “Alley Catz.” Boys and girls, depending on their bowling skills, were divided into three leagues—beginners, intermediate, and advanced. Mentally and physically handicapped students were encouraged to participate. Advanced Placement students enjoyed working with these students. With bowling teams from other schools, I then wanted to start an interscholastic bowling league (five-person Varsity and Junior Varsity teams) and worked for its approval. I provided uniforms and transportation but would not accept a coach’s salary. Bowling alley proprietors offered free bowling.
At a meeting of school principals and athletic directors, I told them that of the five best bowlers for our Varsity team, two were girls. They immediately objected. “No girls!!”
I said, “The bowling pins don’t know whether a guy or girl bowler knocked them down.“ My argument didn’t matter. Only the Salinas High School principal and athletic director voted in favor of girls’ participation.
Later, when Title IX was instituted, I attended a meeting with the principal, athletic director, and two women who were the girls' Physical Education teachers. They were all against girls’ sports! The men didn’t want to spend money on coaches’ salaries, girls’ athletic uniforms and equipment, and referees. The woman PE chair stated that girls should never be competitive for that would be harmful!
Finally, when girls’ sports were finally ordered, the girls wore the same uniform for basketball, softball and track. The uniforms were washed after each of their sporting event. We’ve come a long way since then.
WHS golfer Janet Coles was permitted to be on the boys’ golf team (1968-1972) for there were no girls’ golf team. She went on to win two LPGA tournaments and others world-wide. She was inducted into the WHS Foundation’s first “Hall of Fame” in 1986. Golf balls don’t know who hit them.
Women are the majority in this nation and should not be treated as second-class citizens. They are finally represented in all fields of endeavors, including the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the Vice Presidency, and the Courts.
