Group Celebrates Women's Equality Day
The struggle for the 19th Amendment began in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention held in Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-14-NY) has introduced HJRes 61 which would add the ERA to our nation’s Constitution and it continues to attract new co-sponsors. This Amendment will give women the legal backing to guarantee that they are equal to men which would greatly alleviate equal pay issues, access to upper mobility programs and jobs, and educational opportunities for younger women. “All this Amendment says is that women are equal to men,” stated Janet Kopenhaver, FEW’s Washington Representative. “We urge all Members of Congress to co-sponsor this important Resolution and help ensure it moves through the legislative process. Additionally, it will be included as a component of our Legislator Scorecard for the 111th Congress scheduled for release in mid-October,” Kopenhaver warned. Through FEW member advocacy efforts this year, many additional co-sponsors added their names to the Resolution during this Congress from several states including Passage of the ERA was the top legislative priority for FEW during the 111th Congress and the organization. “We are anticipating that it will again be chosen by our members as a top priority and we have already begun working on new proactive campaign strategies for the new Congress that should bring a lot of visibility to the issue so stay tuned,” Kopenhaver hinted. FEW is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1968 after Executive Order 11375 was issued that added sex discrimination to the list of prohibited discrimination in the federal government. FEW has grown into a proactive organization serving more than one million federally employed women – both in the military and civilian workforce.
