Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The ERA seems to be a strange animal. Few people seem to un derstand it, for all its simplicity, and even fewer seem to care. ERA..."What's that?..an earned run average?" The Equal Rights -Amendment, which is struggling to become the 27th amendment to the U. S. Constitution, is at present stymied in the S. C. Senate. The amendment quickly passed the House, moved to the Senate and passed the first and second readings. Before the third and final vote, a group of dissident women from Charleston journeyed to the state house and demanded a public hearing on the legislation. THE AMENDMENT has not been heard from since. Most ob servers predict that the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold the amendment and put the matter to a vote in a November referendum rather than act upon it. The group of 39 women told the Senate committee that the amendment was "vague and absolutely unnecessary." Ruth Glover kept asking "where does it mention female or women? We have enough laws on the books to protect women. We do not need this amendment." Glover insists these things even though a married woman is not allowed to enter into binding contracts without her husband's consent in many states, even though in some states a woman does not have the right to retain her maiden name -- even a professionally established name -- upon marriage, even though some states differentiate between male and female in prison sentences, even though 50 percent of the complaints received by the Equal Opportunity Commission are filed by women. THE AMENDMENT is im portant and pressing. It should be passed with all possible speed and RENT-TV's or FURNITURE ANI On Room Ref rigerato Student WITH PURCHASE OPTION XERO SOT CARoi npt a without hesitation. For some reason the legislators assumed that a handful of yocal women constituted the voice of South Carolina. Obviously the legislators did not see the tremendous support mustered in support of the bill, the numerous organizations that had banded together in the common cause, or the sound arguments they provided. The ERA has nothing to do with men and women sharing restrooms, the rape laws being abolished or any of the other ab surd, inane comments that legislators in state houses across .For Witches today " mfr2 ea s ak s tng o m temp Cer foumn meansou to-day' i foundk ytme i sidO y sPLoNm Ea fo0 7yasyuse nm he0fd an thuhihv0be rie to ecus yo fo you SnvTbERE cLumINCES perhp -e Size 4$ s For* METRO LEASE 2738 Devine St. Columbia S.C. Telephone 253-0346 OPIE R Ae c e rtion 1 the land have offered with a th snicker. ci THE AMENDMENT is a dc guarantee that women will be th treated equally under the law. pt "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by uI the United States or by any State a< on account of sex." Of course the amendment does not mention the word women or W female. That would be discrimination. It would be like a civil rights act mentioning only w blacks and excluding Puerto Tl Ricans, Chinese or any group that might experience discrimination " because of race. Senator Edward Gurney of Florida recently said in debate, y "Essentially, the legal status of women has changed very little since the adoption of the 19th S Amendment in 1920. Certainly there is no denying the fact that - a women are still -- and in some A cases -- increasingly -- subject to discrimination in many phases of Ca everyday life. This is particularly by true in areas of legal rights, to education and employment." on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act wi already guarantees women a strong place in society. It does not ap abolish state laws across the land mi that prohibit women from working se in certain jobs, during certain 271 hours -- laws that were originally designed to protect but tend in- rif stead to discriminate. M4 REP. MARTHA Griffiths of bu Michigan said in U. S. House of debate, "So-called protective I legislation that said that women va could not work at a certain job -- de! for instance, she could never be on wa the desk of a hotel at night -- dis ignored the fact that right beside We Hav 20 Bi!?L NAVY BELL: Stripes -Co PE A-NUT IWHITEI ALL C * AMY ATIGU * RMHAKI *BOS TIUE ARMY-NA THE YEL 1316 ASSMBL SNV e male clerk there was a airwoman working, and that wn in the entertainment rooms ere was a woman singing or aying the piano." A U. S. Senate report backed this >, saying "where state laws Aually provide 'meaningful otection' they would be ex inded to include both men and men." "If women workers need a otective law, then the men who )rk alongside them need it, too. ie law should treat them equally - 'Equality of rights u tot be denied or abri tates or by any Stato and it will after the Equal Rights nendment is ratified." It is true that few of South irolina's laws will be abolished the amendment, but it is naive believe that we are not a country the move, that South Carolina Il be the only state we live in. AT PRESENT 18 states have proved the legislation; 38 states ust ratify the amendment within ven years for it to become the th addition to the Constitution. I'he ERA would not disturb the hts of privacy. It would not ike alimony unconstitutional, t would require a fair allocation it on a case-by-case basis. lape laws would not be in lidated because they are signed to protect women in a y that they are uniformly tinct from men. enate report 92-689 says, "Thus e Them In For You [)O PAI BOTTOI BOTTOMS IN DENIMS - rduroy - All Colors - All S [P HUGGERS k BBER BRAND - ALL TV S BELL BO OLORS AND SIZE E TFROUSERS .............. TFROUJSERS *............... LAEBERRY - STR IPES. ' TROUSERS & JACK ETs. VY SURPLUS LOW FRONT STO. r. laws which are based on a unique physical characteristic of one sex - - whether criminal laws prohibiting rape, or civil laws governing medical payments for child birth -- will continue to be valid. But laws which give a strong sentence to a woman than a man who committs the same offense (and vise versa) will be invalid." TO GIVE states and Congress adequate time to make the changes in their laws required by the ERA, the amendment provides for a two-year period after rider the law shall idged by the United on account of sex." ratification before it becomes effective. In many areas women have been treated as second class citizens and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment would bring to a halt the discrimination. Until recently the courts of America have followed a 1908 Supreme Court ruling that is so antiquated and backward it is painful to realize how slowly the wheels of justice and law turn. In part the ruling read: "THAT WOMEN'S physical ;tructure and the performance of naternal functions place her at a lisadvantage in the struggle for ;ubsistence is obvious. This is ,specially true when the burdens )f motherhood are upon her. Even Nhen they are not, by abundant estimony of the medical frater Stock R V's Whites azes TTOMS ......26 o 42 ... IZES 2-16 STORE R E A T Ph. AL3-'4.41