Questions and Answers on the Equal Rights Amendment

Weed, Helena Hill and others

Published by National Woman's Party, Washington, D.C., 1943

About this Item

14" x 8½". Thirteen mimeographed leaves printed rectos only and corner stapled. Pp. 13. Very good: heavy crease at horizontal fold; the occasional scuff or spot; two penciled amendments. This is a detailed information packet concerning the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a decades-long battle fought by the National Woman's Party (NWP) that was finally won in 1972. NWP was an outgrowth of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, formed in 1913 by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. The group played a critical role in the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment, and one year later announced plans to campaign for another amendment to guarantee women equal rights with men; this would come to be known as ERA. In 1923 Paul made the first revision to ERA at Seneca Falls; she named this version the Lucretia Mott Amendment, after the abolitionist who fought for women's rights and attended the First Women's Rights Convention. In 1943 the amendment went under further revision. The women of NWP worked tirelessly for years, planning, publicizing and fighting for its approval, and it was reintroduced to session after session of Congress, to no immediate avail. The text of the 1943 revision became Section 1 of the version that would finally be passed by Congress in 1972. This work was prepared by NWP's "Research Department" and its stated chair, Helena Hill Weed. Weed made waves as one of the first women to be arrested and jailed for picketing outside the White House on July 4, 1917 and was a founding member of the Women's National Press Club. She was also one of the nation's first female geologists. The text shared insight into various aspects of the ERA, including its wording, goals, supporters and status in Congress, in the form of 64 questions and answers. It listed the multiple Congressional hearings held and reports made on ERA since 1924, assured that the amendment was "in harmony with our system of Government" and explained from whence its nickname came. There were remarks on "women in industry," marriage, rape, maternity laws and equal pay, as well as its intended "psychological effect" (the abbreviated answer: "To raise the status of all women.") It also ran a list of government references cited and "the sources from which these documents may be obtained." Thorough information on an important political milestone in the fight for equality and women's rights. This document was eventually published by the Government Printing Office and OCLC shows thirteen holdings of that version, but none of what we assume must be this early draft.

Seller Inventory # 8327

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Questions and Answers on the Equal Rights Amendment
• Publisher: National Woman's Party, Washington, D.C.
• Publication Date: 1943
• Condition: Very good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Women
  • Politics