North Dakota ratified the Equal Rights Amendment in 1975. Yet it's not in the U.S. Constitution. Why not?

Feb. 20—GRAND FORKS — In the early 1970s, many women were imagining what their futures would look like in a world where they, hopefully, had the same opportunities as men.

"It was a time of a lot of hope," Thomasine Heitkamp, a social work student at UND at the time, told the Grand Forks Herald. "It built camaraderie around an issue of importance."

In 1972, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. Afterward, the U.S. had seven years to achieve ratification in at least 38 states, so the amendment could be added to the Constitution.

Nita Fox, a longtime Grand Forks resident originally from England, was among those who testified for ratification, wrote letters to legislators and otherwise advocated for the amendment she referred to as "the most important piece of legislation in a long, long time."

"All we are asking is that all individuals be equal under the law," Fox wrote to a House representative in 1973.

Two years later, North Dakota became the 34th state to ratify the ERA.

"The day that the Legislature approved ratification in North Dakota, I was so excited," Heitkamp said. "I was so excited, and I never would have imagined that this many years later, we still wouldn't have this amendment to the Constitution."

Not enough states ratified the ERA in that seven-year period and, as a result, the amendment was never officially written into the Constitution. In 2021, the North Dakota Senate passed a concurrent resolution retroactively clarifying that, since the deadline passed, the ERA was no longer valid in the state.

More than half a century since Congress passed the ERA, women in North Dakota and across the country continue to fight for the amendment and its promise of equal treatment between sexes.

"I would have never in my life guessed that over 50 years later, I would be still fighting for equal rights for women under the Constitution," Sandi Marshall, also a UND social work student during the 1970s, told the Herald. "I would have never thought that."

But the fight continues. Heitkamp, Marshall and others founded ERA NOW — a Grand Forks nonprofit — in 2017.

"When we started ERA NOW, the intent was to obviously support equal rights for women, but it was also a reminder — in my mind — that it had never been ratified," Heitkamp said. "That history was important."

As more women entered the workforce in the late 1900s, it quickly became clear they weren't being afforded the same rights and privileges as their male colleagues.

"Because of prejudice and discrimination, female workers — who comprise nearly 40% of the nation's workforce — are heavily concentrated in low-status, low-paying jobs," Fox wrote in a testimony she gave in support of ratification.

As a student in the 1970s, Marshall considered a career in medicine. She excelled in her science courses but felt her vocational counselor pushed her toward women-dominated fields — nursing and occupational therapy, for example.

Marshall ultimately changed paths and spent more than 40 years in the social work field.

"I might have given greater consideration to (a medical degree) if it was a different time — if it was a time when women were more welcomed into medical schools," Marshall said. "If I would have been encouraged, as a woman, I might have gone that direction."

In addition to barriers discouraging women from working in certain fields, or studying certain subjects, there were significant wage disparities. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, women earned between 57 and 61 cents for every dollar a man made, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

For some women, their first experience with income inequality happened long before they entered the workforce — it was secondhand, watching their mothers fight to provide.

"My mother was the primary breadwinner in the family," Marshall said. "So the issue of income inequality was one near and dear to my heart."

That likely factored into her early awareness of women's issues, which was only amplified when she started college and spoke with groups of women about their experiences.

"(I realized) that women weren't able to take out credit cards in their own name, or take out mortgages in their own name back then," Marshall said. "There was that kind of discrimination going on even then, which kind of blows my mind to think about."

Even though the North Dakota Legislature petitioned Congress to pass the ERA as early as 1947 — making it the second state in the country to do so, according to Fox — getting the amendment ratified was no easy task.

In 1973, one year after Congress passed the ERA, it passed 30-20 in the North Dakota Senate. Though a majority of the House were also in favor (51-49), the vote did not meet the required constitutional majority, so ratification failed.

"We have seven years in which to accomplish ratification and we already have 28 (states) in less than one year, so we are not discouraged — disappointed, yes — but determined to carry on and get our state to ratify it in the next session," Fox wrote in a press release that year.

At the time, anti-ERA parties traveled across the country to speak against it. Fox referred to their efforts as a smear campaign, and claimed they were using scare tactics to make people disregard the facts at hand.

Despite the ERA's promise to create equal opportunities for women, some prominent figures in the anti-ERA movement were women themselves.

Women legislators even voted against the amendment, including one who was a member of the North Dakota Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, an organization that existed largely for the purpose of creating better opportunities for working women.

"Fear is a hard thing to manage in policy and legislation," Heitkamp said.

Some women believed that if the ERA was ratified, women-specific workplace protections would be lost, they would be drafted to serve in wars and family dynamics would be negatively impacted.

"I think there was (a lot of misconception) at the time, and I think there still is," Heitkamp said. "I don't understand why; it's really straightforward. It's not discriminating against women."

Many believed the ERA was unnecessary because of a predecessor: the 14th Amendment. Fox argued that if the 14th Amendment — which addresses U.S. citizens' legal privileges — gave women equal rights, then why was the 19th Amendment necessary to give women the right to vote?

"The 14th Amendment wasn't targeted towards women," Marshall said. "It didn't protect women."

Despite significant opposition, enough people agreed the ERA was necessary, and it was ratified by a 28-22 Senate vote and 52-49 House vote in 1975. A reconsideration vote was planned, according to UND archives, but failed.

Chuck Haga, a Grand Forks Herald reporter at the time, covered the legislative session.

"I remember hearing rooms overflowing, and so much pride, exhaustion and emotion on the part of backers after the House voted," Haga said.

The lives of women may look different than in the 1970s, but many of the same concerns exist.

"To this day, there are issues that haven't been resolved, and that aren't protected through the Constitution," Marshall said.

As of 2018, women were making 81.6 cents for every man's dollar, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The most significant push toward closing the gap occurred in the 1980s, when the disparity shrunk by nearly 10 cents.

"As we look at the trajectory of opportunity for women, it might be greater — but will it stay that way?" Heitkamp asked.

With these concerns in mind, Heitkamp, Marshall and other Grand Forks-area women gathered to form ERA NOW. The nonprofit focuses on advocacy and education primarily surrounding women's rights.

"What really started it was the results of the 2016 presidential election, and the turn that our country was taking politically," Marshall said. "We were very concerned about a giant step backwards in terms of women's rights, and respect for women."

ERA NOW — in collaboration with Arts for Vets and the Women's Fund — is hosting an art show in honor of International Women's Day. The show will be from March 8 to March 31 at the Grand Forks Art Center. The theme is "Inspire Inclusion."

It's not easy to dedicate time to civil engagement when there's so much going on in people's personal lives, Heitkamp said, but it's important to think about the state of the world and what the future holds for generations to come.

Heitkamp often thinks of her own granddaughter and what opportunities will be available to her down the line.

"What will her world look like?" she asked. "Will there be equal rights for women? Will we have passage of ERA, and she won't know any world without that?"

Despite decades-long setbacks, Heitkamp remains hopeful. She has to.

"If we don't have hope, what do we have?" she asked.