When you think of the constitution, you might believe that we've come a long way, and you'd be right. There are many noteworthy amendments that have been ratified, like amendment 19 that gave women the right to vote.

Or amendment 13 that freed African-Americans from slavery. But something we haven't accomplished as a nation is explicitly stating that men and women are equal under the constitution. Yes, men and women are STILL not considered equal in 2019.

In 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced, simply stating, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

The ERA gained popularity in the '70s when an organization called the National Organization of Women discovered the ERA required three-fourths of state legislatures needed to ratify it. The house passed it in 1970, the Senate passed it in 1972, and most people had assumed it was a done deal at that point. All that was necessary were eight more states to ratify it.

But somehow, there was still a group that disagreed with the ERA, lead by a WOMAN.

Phyllis Schlafly was an infamous opponent of the ERA. Her main argument was that women should be caretakers of the home, and is considered equal to men would take away certain "benefits." She said in March of 2015, "News flash: one reason a woman gets married is to be supported by her husband while caring for her children at home. So long as her husband earns a good income, she doesn't care about the pay gap between them."

Yeah, that's really a quote from 2015, not 1950. Not only does she acknowledge the pay gap, but she states that the only option for a woman is to marry a man who can provide for her.

This regressive ideology spread and slowly fewer and fewer states agreed in the ratification of the ERA. In 1982, the amendment expired with just three more states necessary to ratify it.

The ERA is necessary to ensure justice. This could protect victims of sexual assault. Without explicit constitutional protection of equality, we are in danger of potential laws being passed that could violate our rights. But there is a ray of hope. In 2017, Nevada became the first state to ratify the ERA in years, and Illinois followed suit in 2018, meaning we are just one state away from full ratification of equal rights.

This is a bipartisan issue. Don't let this historic moment wait any longer. If you live in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, or Virginia please reach out to your senators. If you don't live in any of those states then you can still spread this to others.

We can't let over a hundred years of civil rights progress be undone.