VIDEO: Hirono Votes to Enshrine Gender Equality in the U.S. Constitution

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) voted to advance a bicameral resolution affirming the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would enshrine gender equity in the U.S. Constitution. Despite the required 38 states voting to ratify the amendment, ratification has been stalled due to an arbitrary deadline put in place when Congress passed the ERA in 1972.

Following the vote, which failed to pass in the Senate, Senator Hirono joined Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and five of her Senate Democratic colleagues in a press conference to underscore the importance of ERA ratification in fighting for equal rights for all.

“I agree with the writers and analysts who say that if the ERA had been in our constitution, even this extreme Supreme Court would have had to think twice before summarily getting rid of a constitutional right that we thought we had had for 50 years,” said Senator Hirono during her remarks. “And that is just one example of why the Equal Rights Amendment needs to get done.”

Currently, the Constitution does not contain any explicit protections guaranteeing equal rights for women. On March 22, 1972, Congress passed the ERA with a seven year deadline for three-fourths of the states to ratify the amendment. Hawaii ratified the ERA that same day. In 2020, Virginia became the 38^th and final state necessary to ratify the ERA and effectively fulfill the threshold required for the amendment to become part of the Constitution.

“It’s been 50 years, but one thing about those of us who fight for equal opportunity, equal rights, gender protections,” concluded Senator Hirono. “We don’t give up, we don’t give in, we know it’s right and we’re going to keep on going.”

Earlier this year, Senator Hirono joined several of her House and Senate colleagues in introducing a bicameral resolution affirming the ratification of the ERA, noting that Hawaii was the first state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she also pushed for Congress to enshrine gender equality in the U.S. Constitution by recognizing the ratification of the ERA during a full committee hearing.

A full transcript of Senator Hirono’s remarks is below and a link to download video is available here.

Aloha everybody. While I was listening to Leader Schumer talk about the people who started the ERA many, many decades ago, and how some of them have passed—well, some of us still haven’t passed. Cause I was working in the Hawaii State Legislature when Hawaii became the first state in the nation to ratify the ERA.

And 50 years later, the fight continues, and what’s really wonderful—and gives me great hope—is the young people, they’re in high school and they are here to fight for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. And you know what? They are a generation ahead because I didn’t start fighting for this until I was in college, so you guys give me such hope.

And then I see so many others who are here fighting the battle and nothing can be as an example of why we need the ERA than the Dobbs decision, because I agree with the writers and analysts who say that if the ERA had been in our constitution, even this extreme Supreme Court would have had to think twice before summarily getting rid of a constitutional right that we thought we had had for 50 years—that they would have had to regard and assess what an ERA provision would require them to do. And that is just one example of why the Equal Rights Amendment needs to get done.

So yes, we took a vote and we are going to keep on going because it’s been 50 years, but one thing about those of us who fight for equal opportunity, equal rights, gender protections, all of that is that we don’t give up, we don’t give in, we know it’s right and we’re going to keep on going.

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