•The Constitution does not guarantee equal rights without regard to a person’s sex. The only right that the Constitution specifically affirms to be equal for women and men is the right to vote (19th Amendment, 1920).
 •The 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause has never been interpreted to protect against sex discrimination to the same extent that the ERA would. 

Passage of the ERA Would:

·         Guarantee that the rights affirmed by the U.S. Constitution are held equally by all citizens without regard to sex;

·         Provide a fundamental legal remedy against sex discrimination for both women and men;

·         Clarify the legal status of sex discrimination for the courts, where decisions still deal inconsistently with such claims; 

·          Make “sex” a suspect classification, as race currently is, so that governmental actions that treat males or females differently as a class would have to bear a necessary relation to a compelling state interest in order to be upheld as constitutional.

·         Improve the standing of the United States globally with respect to equal justice under law, since the governing documents of many other countries, however imperfectly implemented, specifically affirm legal equality of the sexes.