The Legislative Process In NYS: Women’s Fight For Equal Rights

We all know that, despite past and recent efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, our nation still has not been successful in achieving this essential measure to guarantee equal rights for women. But did you know that even though 26 states have amended their state constitutions to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, New York is not one of them? Since the 1970s, NYS legislators have tried numerous times, unsuccessfully, to pass an ERA prohibiting sex and gender- based discrimination. This virtual webinar will provide a first-hand account of the early battles for passage of the federal ERA and will discuss two ERA bills currently pending before the New York State Assembly and Senate and the hurdles we still face to passage of either. 

The Legislative Affairs Committee of the Women in Law Section has assembled a stellar group of panelists to walk us through these issues, including Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, the former Brooklyn District Attorney, U.S. Representative, and co-founder and first Democratic Co-Chair of the Congressional Women’s Caucus, who authored the resolution extending the federal ERA for several years; State Senator Liz Krueger, the sponsor of one of the current proposals; Lourdes M. Rosado, President and General Counsel of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, who will discuss how current proposals will strengthen anti-discrimination protections for historically-marginalized groups in our state; and Professor Katherine M. Franke, the James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia University, Director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law, and founder and Faculty Director of the ERA Project at Columbia Law School. 

Thank you to our Sponsor!