For Immediate Release:
Feb. 10, 2015


Contact: Violet Marcel
(573) 751-3074

Senator Jill Schupp Files Equal
Rights Amendment


JEFFERSON CITY - State Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, today filed a resolution to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution.  If passed, Missouri would become the 36th state to approve ratification and declare 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.”  She was joined in offering the concurrent resolution by Senators Holsman, Walsh, LeVota, Curls, Sifton and Nasheed.

The Equal Rights Amendment reflects the basic principle that men and women are equal in the eyes of the law.  The need for the ERA is as strong today as it was when Congress first proposed it to the states in 1972.  Many inequalities still exist between the sexes, including disparate employment opportunities, wage discrimination, and unequal enrollment in education.  While limited federal and state legislation already address some of these issues, legislation can be altered or repealed.  According to Senator Schupp, “Amending the Constitution would provide bedrock protection for women to permanently have the same rights and opportunities as men.  Equality is not only a legal necessity, it is a human right.”

In filing the resolution Sen. Schupp said “It’s 2015.  It’s time.”

For more information on Sen. Schupp’s legislation, visit her official Senate website at www.senate.mo.gov/schupp.