They come to my comedy shows.
I talk to them and write them back.
You know whats weird?
Ben Cope
They often dont know theEqual Rights Amendmentnever passed.
Some just assume that women enjoy the guarantee of equal rights under our constitution.
So it never passed.
Lisa Ann Walter speaks on stage during Era Coalition Forward Women’s Equality Trailblazer Awards, May 2024, Los Angeles, California.
Its a big problem, the Not Being Equal Citizens.
But also the incredible fact that these educated, engaged, involved young people dont know.
Let me stress this: THEY DO NOT KNOW WOMEN DO NOT CURRENTLY HAVE EQUAL CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
Lisa Ann Walter speaks atGlamourand Paid Leave for All’s Pass Paid Leave Event, July 2024, Washington DC.
I know, of course, becauseI was there for the fight.
When I was eight years old, I attended my first Womens Equality march.
As a girl, it made no sense to me that women didnt have equal rights.
We were as capable and smart as any boys we knew.
We had a fantastic, hippie music teacher in kindergarten who taught us the chants and songs.
All we are saying is give peace a chance, Were here, were queerget used to it!
What do we want?
When do we want it?
buttons adorned my jean jacket next to the flower-power patches.
At the time we were all aged between 10 and 11, and we were an undeniable force.
The ERA felt like something that would be a done deal in pretty short order.
As little girls in the 1970s, the concept of equality felt natural to us.
We built treehouses and three-room forts in the backyard.
We threw fundraising carnivals for theMarch of Dimes.
We became baby activists.
We were deeply and emotionally involved in the fight to pass the ERA.
As a girl, it made no sense to me that women didnt have equal rights.
We were as capable and smart as any boys we knew.
We survived divorced parents and sexual assault.
We were brave, funny, and had a fierce determination that life should be fair.
Within a year I had saved enough allowance money to buy my first subscription.
It wasntMAD Magazinealthough I bought every issue of that on the newsstand.
Magazinethe feminist publication launched byGloria Steinemin December 1971.
I was a self-proclaimed feminist, which was not a popular sentiment in middle school in the mid-1970s.
Why do you hate boys?
Lisa wants us girls to use the boys bathroom.
Our girl gang assumed that after such vigorous continued campaigning, the bill would be ratified.
I mean, it just made sense.
But every year we were increasingly discouraged with our fellow Americans, as state after state voted against ratification.
Then 1979 came and went.
By that time my girl gang was already thoroughly disenchanted.
Lisa Ann Walter speaks atGlamourand Paid Leave for Alls Pass Paid Leave Event, July 2024, Washington DC.
It is often now argued that women dont need the ERA…other bills guarantee your rights.
1964,Title VII of the Civil Rights Actprohibiting employment discrimination.
In 1972,Title IXpreventing sex discrimination in federally funded schools.
In 1994, theViolence Against Women Actproviding civil rights remedies for sexual-assault and domestic-violence victims.
All of this seemed to move us in the right direction.
And we see how thats going.
In 2023,Groff v. DeJoyallowed the denial of our civil rights based on exemptions for religious beliefs.
Left there, it could become life threatening.
Why is all this even more important now?
When folks wonder, Well, dont you have equal rights, basically?
I hadnt missed a period, no morning sickness.
In this project, I was doing some light stuntsincluding falls and so on.
Late one night I started bleeding.
I stood up and a river of blood fell out of me.
When the bleeding didnt stop, I went to the hospital.
Several things are important here.
I think often of women who are now in the position I was in.
My comedy has always been the reflection of the female experience.
They have to be.
It can be a powerful messaging tool.
And as my Sicilian Nana used to say Whatre ya gonna do?
The ERA was first drafted in 1923.
Demanded that we overturn the arbitrary timeline to get to pass the ERA.
Maybe if we just had put Equal Rights for Women on a cheeseburger, wed have them by now.
