Lawmakers Invite Women to Speak on Behalf of Equal Rights Amendment
CHICAGO, IL – To share their sentiments on the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a panel of women will speak at the Illinois House Human Services committee hearing on Monday, May 7 in Chicago.
“I am extremely passionate about the Equal Rights Amendment because I have faced discrimination time and time again throughout my life,” said Kathy Freeman of Tinley Park. “I have taken initiative to show my local state Rep. Margo McDermed that voting in favor of the amendment is the right thing to do by going door-to-door for signatures from ERA supporters, and almost everyone I talk to agrees – it’s long past time to have equal rights for women written into our constitution.”
“My mom marched for the Equal Rights Amendment when she was pregnant with me, wanting a better future for her daughter. It’s unconscionable to me that an entire generation spent their lives advocating for the ERA and yet women still do not have equal protection,” said Michelle Fadeley, President of the Illinois National Organization for Women. “Ratifying the ERA is a necessary next step to closing the wage gap, to ensuring that women have adequate access to resources like domestic violence centers, and to state clearly that the equal treatment of women is not just a concept left up to interpretation – it’s the law of the land.”
Who: Illinois House Human Services Committee
What: House Human Services Subject Matter Committee Hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment (SJRCA 4)
When: Monday, May 7 10 am
Where: Michael A. Bilandic Building 160 North LaSalle Street C-600, 6th Floor Chicago, IL 60601
