Quote 12
I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality. - Alice Paul
Today most people don't question the idea that men and women should have equal rights under the law. Even the U.S. military (one of the final holdouts) recently expressed openness to the idea of women in combat roles. The idea of an equal rights amendment, however, completely divided and broke apart the post-suffrage women's rights movement of the 1920s and 1930s. While women like Paul and Doris Stevens embraced the concept of equality for men and women under the law. Other women's rights activists including Eleanor Roosevelt did not support an equal rights amendment because it would have invalidated all the protective legislation that had been passed to protect working women (i.e. there were minimum wage laws for women at the time, but not for men, etc.). The disagreement between women about equal rights was so virulent that activist women on different sides of the issue actively worked to undermine the activities and causes of the other. Keeping the movement weak and fractured until the end of the 1960s. Although Paul and the equal rights supporters proved to be right for the future, I sympathize with those who were worried about working women before there were universal protections for all workers.
Today most people don't question the idea that men and women should have equal rights under the law. Even the U.S. military (one of the final holdouts) recently expressed openness to the idea of women in combat roles. The idea of an equal rights amendment, however, completely divided and broke apart the post-suffrage women's rights movement of the 1920s and 1930s. While women like Paul and Doris Stevens embraced the concept of equality for men and women under the law. Other women's rights activists including Eleanor Roosevelt did not support an equal rights amendment because it would have invalidated all the protective legislation that had been passed to protect working women (i.e. there were minimum wage laws for women at the time, but not for men, etc.). The disagreement between women about equal rights was so virulent that activist women on different sides of the issue actively worked to undermine the activities and causes of the other. Keeping the movement weak and fractured until the end of the 1960s. Although Paul and the equal rights supporters proved to be right for the future, I sympathize with those who were worried about working women before there were universal protections for all workers.