A press conference was held today to commemorate the 40th
anniversary of Congress’s passage of the Equal Rights Amendment
(ERA). A panel discussion, sponsored by the National council of
Women’s Organizations (NCWO), the Sewall-Belmont House and
Museum, and the Alice Paul Institute, followed the press
conference and featured Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ),
Representatives, Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Jerrold Nadler
(D-NY), Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal, Terry
O’Neill, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW),
Susan Scanlan, Chair of the NCWO, Roberta Francis, Chair of the
ERA Task Force, and Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever, Executive Director
of the National Council of Negro Women.   Ratification of the
ERA is imperative to ensure that men and women are guaranteed
equal rights by the US Constitution. The Equal Rights Amendment
would “guarantee equal footing for women in the legal systems of
all 50 states, particularly in areas where women have
historically been treated as second-class citizens