The struggle to add an amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing equal rights for women was an important, if ultimately unsuccessful, chapter in the history of the women's movement in the United States. Throughout the history of the United States, as well as of the world, women had always had fewer rights than men. For years, they could not own property or run for elective office. They could not even vote in the United States until 1920. Although the status of women in the United States had gradually improved over time, many glaring inequalities with which they had to suffer still existed. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was an attempt to end those inequalities.

A woman holds up a sign calling for an end to discrimination at an Equal Rights Amendment rally. Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

The ERA was first proposed in...