As Stories of Sexual Assault on Women Continue to Come Out, Rep. Maloney, Lt. Governor, Girl Scouts to Call for Federal Equal Rights Amendment

Maloney to release letter requesting that NY’s Fearless Girl Statue remain in place until ERA is Ratified

NEW YORK—On Friday, November 17th at 10:30am, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12) will join with New York Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, the Girl Scouts of Greater NY and local elected officials at theFearless Girl—herself an honorary Girl Scout—to call for the passage of a federal Equal Rights Amendment. With more and more women sharing stories of being sexually assaulted, now is the time to finally enact the ERA as a commitment to equality for women and tool to fight discriminatory laws.

As part of this effort, Rep. Maloney will urge Mayor de Blasio to keep the Fearless Girl statue at her post until the federal ERA is ratified, as a symbol of New York’s unwavering commitment to gender equality.

The ERA is a constitutional amendment which would prohibit denying or abridging equal rights under the law by the United States or any state on account of sex. This amendment would put explicit mention of women in the Constitution and guarantee the equal rights of women and men by:

• Making sex a suspect category subject to strict judicial scrutiny and therefore clarifying the legal status of sex discrimination for the courts. This would prohibit sexual discrimination in the same way the United States has already prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religion, and national origin.
• Guaranteeing equal footing for women in the legal systems of all 50 states.
• Ensuring that government programs and federal resources benefit women and men equally.