Stepman’s full testimony can be found HERE once the hearing begins.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Inez Feltscher Stepman, Senior Policy Analyst with Independent Women’s Voice and Independent Women’s Law Center, will testify in front of the Committee on Oversight and Reform at 10 am ET tomorrow regarding the Equal Rights Amendment.
The hearing is being held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of House passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, which failed to garner sufficient support in the states to become part of the Constitution and expired last century. Stepman is the only witness testifying in opposition to the moribund Amendment. Witnesses who favor resurrecting the Amendment from the dead include, Ms. Carol Jenkins, president, ERA Coalition; The Honorable Jennifer McClellan, Virginia State Senator; Ms. Alyssa Milano, actress and ERA Advocate; Ms. Victoria Nourse, professor of law, Georgetown University Law Center; Ms. Bamby Salcedo, President, TransLatin@ Coalition and Board Member, ERA Coalition; and Ms. Eleanor Smeal, founder and president, Feminist Majority Foundation.
In her testimony, Stepman argues that, in 2021, the Equal Rights Amendment is not only expired, but unnecessary and potentially quite harmful to women and girls.
Stepman explains, “The ERA would potentially prohibit the government from hosting or funding dozens of female-only spaces that American women take for granted. For example, incarcerated women have, until recently, been able to rely on being housed in a prison only with other women, on the commonsense assumption that it is dangerous to house female inmates with male ones in close quarters, and that co-ed prisons make women vulnerable to physical and sexual assault.”
She adds, “[P]ublic schools, whether K12 or at the university level, would not be able to maintain separate bathrooms, locker rooms, or sports teams for boys and girls. Universities would not be able to maintain separate dorms for male and female students, and campus-connected sororities and fraternities would potentially become, overnight, Constitutional violations.”
“[B]y prohibiting public policy from ever taking into account biology and common sense, the ERA would have significant negative consequences on women and girls.”
Stepman’s full testimony can be found HERE once the hearing begins.
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Independent Women’s Voice fights for women by expanding support for policy solutions that aren’t just well intended, but actually enhance freedom, opportunities, and well-being.
Independent Women’s Law Center advocates for equal opportunity, individual liberty, and respect for the American constitutional order.