States that Ratified & Did Not Ratify the ERA. Ratified - Red; Ratified, but rescinded - Orange; Ratified in one house - Green; Not ratified - Blue. [9]

 

The Equal Rights Amendment, or ERA, could have been the 27^th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.  On March 22, 1972, the United States Legislature passed the Equal Rights Amendment.  However, in order for the ERA to become law, thirty-eight states needed to approve the amendment.  

  Utah was on track to ratify the amendment, but the day before the legislature voted in 1975, the LDS Church released an editorial in Utah’s Deseret News, proclaiming their opposition to the amendment.  The ERA was almost instantly doomed to fail in Utah because of this simple statement.[1]  The LDS Church tends to avoid political affairs, but in the case of the ERA, the Church claimed the amendment was a, “moral issue,” and thus their intervention was approved and necessary.  Groups such as “Mormons for ERA” formed to voice their opinions and stance on the Equal Rights Amendment.  Feminist movements sprung up across the state as women demanded equality in education, employment, and the home.  Ultimately, the Equal Rights Amendment did not receive the necessary support from the thirty-eight states needed for ratification, and some argue that its failure to pass was significantly due to the intervention of the LDS Church.[2]

Utah was one of fifteen states that did not ratify the amendment by the 1982 deadline, thus the ERA fell short of the three-fourths necessary for approval and did not become the 27^th Amendment of the United States.[3]

Pamphlet on the Equal Rights Amendment in Utah [10]

(Access the full PDF by clicking twice on this image)

The Equal Rights Amendment stated:

“Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”[4]

 For the homemaker: The ERA recognized homemaking as a “professional” choice, not an imposed gender role.  

For education: Admission policies would be equal among genders with equal access to technical programs.  Equal access to scholarships, grants, and loans.  Reevaluation of nepotism, employment, and promotion policies.

For employed women: Paid on the basis of work, not sex and equal opportunities.

For the draft: Women would be required to join the draft.[5]

Mormons for ERA Bumper Stickers [11]

 Many individuals and organizations endorsed the ERA.  Some of the notable organizations were: 

Governor’s Committee on the Status of Women, Catholic Women’s League, College of Eastern Utah, Delta Kappa Gamma, Democratic Women’s Clubs, Dixie College (Association of Women Teachers, Republican Club, Young Democratic Club), League of Women Voters of Utah, Mormons for ERA, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Salt Lake Council of Jewish Women, University of Utah (Associated Women Students, Women’s Resource Center), Utah State Nurses Association, Utah State University (American Association of University Professors, Committee on Status of Women, Faculty Association), Women in Social Work, and Y.M.C.A.[6]

The primary organization in opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment in Utah was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  In the March 1980 Church magazine, titled the Ensign, the LDS Church leadership explained their position on the ERA and their reasoning for not supporting the amendment.  They stated that political issues should remain in politics and the Church only becomes involved if a moral issue is at hand.  Since the ERA involved consequences for women and the family, the LDS Church questioned the morality of the amendment.[7]

In October 1976, the LDS Church released a statement regarding the ERA.  They stated, “In Utah, where our Church is headquartered, women received the right to vote in 1870, fifty years before the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution granted the right nationally.  There have been injustices to women before the law and in society generally.  These we deplore.  There are additional rights to which women are entitled.  However, we firmly believe that the Equal Rights Amendment is not the answer.”  The statement continues by listing the reasons for non- support of the amendment.  They explain that they believe God gave women feminine instincts and the ERA could restrain and restrict women more than help them.  The LDS Church clarified that they support equality for men and women, but with distinct biological, physical, and emotional differences, and thus, they argued the Equal Rights Amendment should not be passed.[8]