The Equal Rights Amendment: Yesterday and Today

There have been more than 11,000 attempts since 1787 to amend the U.S. Constitution, with only 27 successes. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was introduced into every session of Congress between 1923 and 1972, when it was finally passed by Congress. Ultimately, however, it failed to be ratified by the required three-fourths of the states to be become part of the Constitution. Written in 1921, the proposed text reads:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

The video above features a panel discussion, The Equal Rights Amendment: Yesterday and Today [note that the speakers begin at 5:12], that was sponsored by the National Archives in partnership with the National Woman's Party. Held at the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument on June 16, 2016, the event was part of the programming that is accompanying the exhibition, Amending America, which runs through September 4, 2017 at the National Archives Museum.

For further historical information on the constitutional amendment process, see the dataset created by the National Archives: Amending America: Proposed Amendments to the United States Constitution, 1787 to 2014.