WHEN A FEMINIST STRUGGLE BECOMES A SYMBOL OF THE AGENDA AS A WHOLE: THE EXAMPLE OF WOMEN IN THE MILITARY

Abstract

L Introduction In March 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution-the ERA- passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 84 to 8. Two thirds of the states were then expected to ratify the ERA in order to complete the process required for amending the Constitution. Yet on June 30, 1982, the allotted time expired with only thirty-five of the required thirty-eight states having ratified the amendment, putting an unsuccessful end to a long feminist struggle. The operative section of the ERA stated: Equality of Rights under the law not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of Sex. This direct reference to gender equality differed from the existing constitutional principle of equality as embedded in the Fourteenth Amendment, which generally provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Thus, after the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment, the American Bill of Rights remained devoid of any specific guarantee of gender equality. How did this happen? American feminist discourse has an obvious interest in dealing with this question, since women's organizations were the leading sponsors of the ERA. Immediately after its establishment in 1967, the National Organization for Women (NOW) placed the ERA at the top of its Bill of Rights for Women and thereafter was actively involved in many efforts to secure public and legislative support for it. However, I argue that the failure of the ERA deserves closer attention not only from an American perspective, but also from an Israeli perspective. In recent years, feminist circles in Israel have 148 NASHIM: A Journal of Jewish Women 's Studies and Gender Issues. ©2003