The struggle over the Equal Rights Amendment started more than a century ago when suffragist Alice Paul first proposed it shortly after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

One hundred years ago, American women gained the guaranteed right to vote, with ratification of the 19th Amendment. She introduced that amendment now known as the Equal Rights Amendment in Congress in 1923. Of course, the ERA, finally passed by Congress in 1972 only to stumble during a circuitous ratification effort, still isnt law. ERA advocates were deeply disappointed, though, when in February, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she thought the entire state ratification process should be started over, dealing current efforts a potentially serious blow. Were celebrating the anniversary of the 19th Amendment that really only gave the right to vote to white women, she says.