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Beyond the value of litigation in providing much-needed access to remedies for women who are discriminated against on the basis of sex, an Equal Rights Amendment will promote public understanding that all men and women are created free and equal in dignity and in rights, and should be treated as such. Historically women have been treated as second-class citizens, in the United States and around the worldβeconomically, socially, and politically as well as legally. Increasingly, as the womenβs movement has grown in strength, governments have recognized and tried to address this discrimination. Yet, to the surprise of many Americans, the United States is one of only seven countries in the world (along with Iran, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and two small Pacific Island nations, Palau and Tonga) that have not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
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Jessica Neuwirth (Equal Means Equal: Why the Time for an Equal Rights Amendment Is Now)