Feminist icon leads drive to pass ERA

A renewed effort to pass the Equal Rights Amendment received a push this weekend in two places near and dear to supporters of women’s rights.

On Saturday, chants of “ERA” broke out after Eleanor Smeal’s speech during her induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, home to the first women’s rights convention more than 150 years ago.

Sunday, across the street from the house where suffragist Susan B. Anthony lived and close to where she cast her illegal ballot, Smeal called for the ERA to be passed by the year 2020.

“Twenty-twenty is the 100th anniversary of the women’s vote,” Smeal said. “Seems like a good year to us. But we’re confident of one thing. We’re pushing for it as soon as possible. This is an outrage for us not to be treated as full equals. … We want the whole thing, and faster. For the next generation, so their potential will be fully utilized.”

Smeal, co-founder and president of the Feminist Majority and former president of the National Organization for Women, was honored by the Rochester Chapter of NOW during a reception in the Carriage House of the Susan B. Anthony Museum and House.

Before the event Smeal, Terry O’Neill, current president of NOW, and Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport stood in Susan B. Anthony Park, in front of the statues of Anthony and Frederick Douglass. Smeal said the next generation would have to take charge in bringing to fruition what their mothers and grandmothers strived to achieve in the decades ago.

“There’ll be huge campus activities in many ways led by young women,” she said. “The U.S. is lagging behind. All kinds of countries have adopted equal rights in their constitutions.”

While suffragists may be associated in most people’s minds with the vote, Smeal said they “fought for equality under the law all across the board.”

While some states have enacted equal rights legislation, Smeal said a federal guarantee means equal pay for equal work, which she said wasn't just a women's issue but was crucial for families.

Equal rights also would protect women’s ability to make decisions about their health, she said. Smeal and O’Neill said that under an Equal Rights Amendment, women’s health care could not be singled out, and they specifically talked about the Congressional hearings with Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards.

“The one thing I thought of was the Anita Hill hearings,” O’Neill said. “Guess what happened after those hearings. We ended up with the most women in the United States Congress that we ever had. I think that needs to happen again.”

Smeal said the drive for the ERA would force politicians to declare their stance. “This is a basic question. Do women have equal rights or don’t they?”

Smeal, in her 70s and working for equality in the U.S. and around the world for decades, said, “the movement has never been this strong. The next generation I hope will see full equality early.”

Smeal turned to Slaughter, who is about 10 years older, and said, “But we still want to see it in our lifetimes.”

“Seriously,” Slaughter replied.

PSINGER@Gannett.com