The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was ratified by 38 states by 2020 but remains in legal limbo as of 2026 due to unresolved questions about the expired deadline and congressional validation.
What’s the current status of the ERA?
The ERA hit the required 38 state ratifications in 2020, but Congress still hasn’t removed the expired deadline or published the amendment in the Constitution.
Come 2026, the ERA technically meets the constitutional mark—but legal experts and advocacy groups can’t agree on whether Congress needs to do more, like passing a joint resolution to wipe out that 1982 deadline, before the archivist can officially certify and publish it. Back in 2023, the Biden administration told the National Archives to hold onto the ERA’s ratifications just in case, which counts as federal recognition that the states did their part. Still, no court has given a final answer, and lawsuits are popping up in state and federal courts. Supporters aren’t giving up—they’re pushing hard for H.J. Res. 17, a bill that would erase the deadline retroactively.
What exactly was the ERA supposed to do, and why did it fall apart?
The ERA was meant to guarantee equal legal rights no matter your sex, but it collapsed under pressure from organized opposition, legislative deadlines, and stubborn state legislatures.
First proposed in 1923 and finally passed by Congress in 1972, the ERA promised to add this to the Constitution: “Equality of rights under the law can’t be denied or cut short by the U.S. or any state because of sex.” At first, it looked promising—35 states signed on by 1977, just three shy of the goal. But then Phyllis Schlafly’s “Stop ERA” campaign turned the tide by painting the amendment as a danger to traditional family life and workplace protections. By the time the 1982 deadline rolled around, only 35 states had ratified it. Three more trickled in between 2017 and 2020, but the legal mess never got sorted out.
So what actually happened to the Equal Rights Amendment?
The ERA got 38 states to ratify it by 2020—technically crossing the finish line—but whether it actually becomes part of the Constitution depends on Congress and the courts.
Congress sent the ERA to the states in 1972 with a seven-year deadline. It gained steam but stalled at 35 states. Then Nevada jumped in during 2017, Illinois in 2018, and Virginia in 2020, pushing the total to 38. Now the fight’s shifted from getting votes to getting certified. The National Archives has the paperwork, but nothing’s been published officially. The Department of Justice weighed in back in 2020, saying the deadline had passed and later ratifications didn’t count—but that opinion’s being challenged left and right.
Why did the ERA lose?
A well-funded coalition of conservative activists, lawmakers, and business interests torpedoed the ERA by convincing people it would wreck traditional gender roles and erase labor protections.
Phyllis Schlafly’s STOP ERA group rallied millions of women to oppose the amendment, claiming it would wipe out alimony, single-sex bathrooms, and workplace safeguards. The campaign linked the ERA to unpopular ideas like forcing women into the draft and tossing out laws that protected female workers. Resistance ran strongest in the South and Midwest, where lawmakers pushed back against federal meddling in social policy. Even after Congress extended the deadline in 1978, the amendment still fell three states short by 1982.
What’s one big reason the Equal Rights Amendment failed?
It flopped partly because it didn’t address the real concerns of working women and women of color, many of whom depended on gender-specific labor protections.
While middle-class white women in the National Woman’s Party backed the ERA, labor unions and women of color groups—like the Coalition of Labor Union Women—fought it. They worried it would erase laws like maximum-hour caps, minimum wages for women, and maternity leave, all of which the Supreme Court had upheld in cases like Muller v. Oregon (1908). The ERA’s blind spot on intersectional issues weakened its broad appeal and left a gaping hole that helped sink it.
Which states never ratified the ERA?
As of 2026, 15 states have never ratified the Equal Rights Amendment: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia
Wait—Virginia actually ratified in 2020, so this list only covers states that never signed on at all. Some, like Nevada and Illinois, took their sweet time but eventually came around. The 15 holdouts haven’t shown much interest in revisiting the issue lately, even with all the national pressure.
How many states does the ERA need to pass?
The ERA needs ratification from 38 out of 50 states—three-fourths of the total—to become part of the U.S. Constitution.
That bar was cleared in 2020 when Virginia became the 38th state to ratify. But whether the amendment actually gets added to the Constitution hinges on two things: whether the deadline is considered legally valid and whether Congress can retroactively erase it. Most amendments sail through without deadlines, but the ERA’s stuck in a weird gray area thanks to that 1982 cutoff and the decades-long gap between ratifications.
Can the ERA still get ratified today?
Yes—if Congress retroactively removes the expired deadline and states confirm their 2017–2020 ratifications are valid.
Under Article V of the Constitution, amendments become official once three-fourths of the states ratify them. The ERA already has those 38 states, but the path forward is messy. In 2021, the House passed H.J. Res. 17 to kill the deadline, but the Senate hasn’t moved on it. Legal experts say Congress can revive the ERA with simple majority votes in both chambers and then send it to the states. Several states have even reaffirmed their ratifications since 2020, adding momentum to the push.
How did the Equal Rights Amendment even get started?
Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman drafted the ERA in 1923, and Congress finally passed it on March 22, 1972—with a seven-year ratification deadline.
The National Woman’s Party pushed for the ERA from the get-go, but it didn’t gain real traction until the women’s movement roared back to life in the 1960s and 70s. Congress approved it in 1972 with bipartisan support and sent it to the states, giving them until March 22, 1979, to ratify it. That deadline got stretched to June 30, 1982, but by then only 35 states had signed on.
What does the U.S. Constitution say about equality?
The Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law through the 14th Amendment, which says, “No State shall... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”.
Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment bars states from denying equal protection based on race—but it never mentions sex. That’s left gaps in legal protections, since the Supreme Court has applied the Equal Protection Clause to sex discrimination cases inconsistently. The ERA was supposed to plug those holes by adding explicit constitutional protection against sex-based discrimination.
What was the biggest criticism of the Equal Rights Amendment?
The biggest knock against the ERA was that it would upend traditional gender roles and strip away social benefits tied to sex, like alimony, dependent Social Security, and workplace protections.
Opponents claimed the ERA would force unisex bathrooms, wipe out sex-based labor laws, and even drag women into the draft. They also argued it would hurt middle-aged homemakers who relied on alimony and spousal Social Security benefits. Groups like the National Council of Catholic Women and the Eagle Forum warned the ERA would tear apart the family structure. These fears were the backbone of Phyllis Schlafly’s “Stop ERA” campaign, which whipped up grassroots opposition nationwide.
Who actually backed the ERA?
The ERA had support from the National Organization for Women (NOW), ERAmerica, the National Woman’s Political Caucus, and a bunch of labor unions and civil rights groups.
NOW, founded in 1966, became the ERA’s loudest advocate, organizing marches and lobbying hard in Washington. ERAmerica, a coalition of nearly 80 groups including the YWCA and the American Association of University Women, coordinated state-level campaigns. Icons like Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan were all in. Labor unions, including the Coalition of Labor Union Women, backed it too—though some members split over worries about protective labor laws. By 1977, 35 states had ratified, showing broad (if not universal) support among feminists and progressives.
When did the Equal Rights Amendment officially fail?
The ERA’s last shot fizzled in 1982 when it couldn’t reach 38 states by the extended deadline of June 30, 1982.
Even after Congress extended the deadline from 1979 to 1982, the amendment stalled at 35 states. Back in 1950, the Senate had passed the ERA with a poison-pill amendment that gutted its equal protection intent, which didn’t help early support. In 1946, the Senate rejected the ERA 38–35, and resistance in state legislatures never really faded. When no new states signed on by 1982, the movement went dormant—until the 2000s revival.
Did Montana ratify the ERA?
Yes—Montana ratified the ERA way back in 1973 and is one of the 38 states that had ratified it by 2020.
Montana was the 32nd state to sign on in March 1973. It’s kept up its support over the years, even passing symbolic reaffirmations in 2019 and 2021. As of 2026, Montana counts toward the 38-state total, even if the certification process is still stuck in legal limbo.
Did Florida ever pass the Equal Rights Amendment?
No—Florida has never ratified the Equal Rights Amendment as of 2026.
Florida’s last real vote on the ERA came in 1982, when it passed the House but lost in the Senate by a single vote. Since then, pro-ERA bills have been filed multiple times but go nowhere in the Republican-controlled legislature. In 2021 and 2023, new bills were introduced but stalled in committee. Florida’s one of 15 states that’s never signed on, despite repeated national campaigns pushing for reconsideration.
