Final answer:
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed constitutional amendment to ensure gender equality under the law, failing to achieve the required ratification by 1982.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution aiming to guarantee that rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. It was a significant historical effort to ensure gender equality, first introduced by Alice Paul in 1923. Despite its initial introduction, the ERA was not passed by Congress until 1972.
It declared that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” While the ERA received support and was ratified by 35 states, it ultimately failed to reach the necessary 38 states for full ratification by the 1982 deadline.
The push for the ERA and the opposition to it, notably by figures like Phyllis Schlafly, highlighted a significant cultural divide over gender roles and anti-discrimination laws in the United States.