It’s been over 100 years — just how long are we supposed to wait for the Equal Rights Amendment? 

When we think about issues of national importance, we often think in terms of comprehensiveness that affects millions of people across generations. But when it comes to finally enshrining equal rights for women in the U.S. Constitution, I wish our leaders would stop thinking like this and start thinking very personally. .

In my family, we want our daughter Bella to grow up knowing that she has the same rights as her brother Milo. And she wants Milo to grow up knowing the exact same thing. Perhaps if our elected leaders started thinking this way, we would already have the constitutional equality Americans demand.

More than 100 years ago, the women’s suffrage movement produced a constitutional amendment guaranteeing these rights. equal rights amendment. The ERA simply and unambiguously states that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.” It meets all constitutional hurdles for adoption as the 28th Amendment. Passed by Congress in 1972, it was sent to America, encouraged by the work of pioneering women like Alice Paul and Shirley Chisholm. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify this amendment, meeting the following requirements of the Constitution: Three-quarters of One of the states would ratify and adopt the amendment.

However, due to the failures of a handful of powerful men, women’s equality remains not part of our governing documents.

Bogged down by an arbitrary deadline set by Congress that was not part of the amendment and which states did not vote on, the ERA is mired in a morass of vicious bureaucracy. The Trump administration took advantage of this unconstitutional restriction todeclineSince taking office in 2021, President Biden has been unable to correct this injustice.

As we look around our country, where women’s rights are being taken away at every turn, we cannot allow this inaction to continue.

Since Virginia ratified the ERA more than four years ago, women Lost national reproductive rightsaccess to contraceptives is get attackedeven in in vitro fertilization treatment politicize .the women kicked out People in their home countries receive life-saving medical care and face the challenges they face. fear of prosecution when they go home. Without the protections of the Equal Rights Amendment, women are second-class citizens in the United States, subject to the hateful whims of sexist and vindictive politicians and without basic human rights anywhere in the country. depends on. This un-American dystopia upends every fundamental story we tell ourselves about who we are as a nation.

president biden have the authorityDirects the National Archives to publish the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the U.S. Constitution. He can and should exercise this power well in advance of Election Day. This is a message from over 120 artists who have signed. ERA Letter Artist . We refuse to sit down and shut up. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote: “Well-behaved women rarely go down in history.”We and our allies experience behavior.

The Equal Rights Amendment is supported by:85 percentThis is what Americans are thinking at a time when division and polarization are at an all-time high. Each project has cleared the high hurdles intentionally set by the planners. Now is the time to recognize the 28th Amendment for what it is.

Our daughters deserve it. Our sons need to know that’s true. And that has to happen now if we are to continue to be seen as a nation with some moral authority.

Alyssa Milano is an actor, producer, author, and activist. She serves on the boards of the Women’s Equality Fund and the ERA Coalition, and is an organizer and co-signer of the Artists for ERA Letter.