Patricia Arquette calls on Congress to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment

Michael Walsh
·Reporter
Patricia Arquette accepts the award for best actress in a supporting role for “Boyhood” at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Hollywood may be embarrassed when its pay inequality and lack of diversity enter the spotlight, but in many ways these are symptoms of larger problems.

Patricia Arquette has launched a petition calling for lawmakers to vote in favor of ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to give women a clear constitutional basis for challenging discrimination.

It’s not a new issue for Arquette. The critically acclaimed actress’ impassioned plea for pay equity at last year’s Academy Awards sparked a national discussion about sex-based discrimination.

Now she’s doubling down on her calls for full equality for women under the law.

“We’re not saying women are better than men. All it says is all people are equal in the United States regardless of their sex. And who can argue with that?” Arquette said in an interview with Yahoo News.

On Thursday, just days before the 2016 Oscars, Arquette and Equal Rights Advocates, a women's rights nonprofit, launched a petition on Change.org to compel Congress to finally ratify the ERA, which reads “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

First introduced in 1923 by suffragist Alice Paul, the bill finally picked up steam in the 1970s (passing both the House and the Senate and getting endorsed by presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter) but was ratified by only 35 states — three states short of the minimum needed to become federal law.

Equal Rights Amendment supporters voice their disapproval of the 22-16 vote against E.R.A. in the Florida Senate as they streamed out of the capitol for a demonstration and shouted vote them out in response to the Senate vote, June 21, 1982. (AP Photo)
Equal Rights Amendment supporters voice their disapproval of the 22-16 vote against E.R.A. in the Florida Senate as they streamed out of the capitol for a demonstration and shouted vote them out in response to the Senate vote, June 21, 1982. (AP Photo)

The ERA would require the judicial system to treat discrimination claims by women the same way it treats those on the basis of race, religion or national origin. Without the amendment, Arquette says, women’s rights are left open to interpretation.

In 2011, much to the chagrin of feminists, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13, said, “Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t.”

To counteract this argument, the ERA would provide a clear constitutional basis on which women could challenge gender-based discrimination.

Arquette also applauded California Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing of the state’s Fair Pay Act last year, but said women need change at the federal level because they cannot be beholden to whoever happens to be in office at the time.

Last year, actress Jennifer Lawrence spoke out against the gender pay gap after the Sony e-mail hack revealed that she had been paid far less than her male co-stars. Arquette, who empathized with Lawrence, said the “Hunger Games” star unfairly caught a lot of heat and was perceived as a “spoiled wealthy actress” by people who missed the point.

“When I see Jennifer Lawrence stand up and speak, I see 33 million women and children behind her back, standing up and needing her to open her mouth,” Arquette said. “And I feel so grateful that she did, and I really hope that we all can stand up with her and say this is not acceptable.”

Actress Jennifer Lawrence attends The Dinner For Equality co-hosted by Patricia Arquette and Marc Benioff on February 25, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.  (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for Weinstein Carnegie Philanthropic Group)
Actress Jennifer Lawrence attends The Dinner For Equality co-hosted by Patricia Arquette and Marc Benioff on February 25, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.  (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for Weinstein Carnegie Philanthropic Group)

Filmmaker Kamala Lopez recently worked with Arquette on the film “Equal Means Equal,” a documentary about the treatment of women in the U.S. today. She says that people often look at different issues facing women individually but need to deal with sexism holistically.

“One of the things a Supreme Court justice [Scalia] said very clearly was, ‘Look, the Constitution was written, and women were not included in it. It was deliberate. It was part of the culture of the time. But don’t try to shoehorn the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment or Title IX or Title VII to actually grant women basic human and civil rights.’ And he’s right,” she said to Yahoo News.

In 2009, Lopez was inspired to direct “Equal Means Equal” after doing research for her first film, “A Single Woman,” about Jeannette Rankin, the first American woman elected to Congress.

Her new film brings together real-life stories and legal cases to make a compelling argument for passing the ERA.

“It comes down to all of us Americans standing up for what we know is right and who we are as a country and the basic values that we share,” she said. “And I have great faith that we’ll be able to work together to make this happen.”

As of Saturday morning, the petition had garnered 48,323 signatures. Arquette and Equal Rights Advocates will decide when to deliver it to the recipients: the House, the Senate and governors across the nation.

The petition can be found at change.org.