NOW - NEW YORK STATE SUPPORT MEMO
New York State Equal Rights Amendment to the New York State Constitution
A1642 (Bing) S3489 (Duane)
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April 2009
The National Organization for Women – New York State, Inc. strongly supports the passage of the New York State Equal Rights Amendment. This amendment to the New York State Constitution will ensure that no person is denied equal protection under the law because of sex. The state’s constitution still does not explicitly guarantee that all of the rights it protects are held equally by all citizens without regard to sex.
In our society today, women are still disadvantaged socially and economically in New York State. Discrimination exists in employment, insurance, health care, education, the criminal justice system, social security, and many other areas. According to Labor Department data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute, college-educated women between the ages of 36 and 45, a seemingly secure and stable segment of the female population, earn 78 cents compared to every dollar that men earn Pay inequity is an even larger problem for women of color. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in 2007 minority women made 60.1 cents for every dollar a white man made
Many of the current laws and legal protections against discrimination based on sex can be replaced or repealed by a simple majority in the New York State Legislature. Therefore, it is necessary to amend the Constitution so that the equal treatment of women in New York State is guaranteed and much more difficult for legislators and courts to reverse.
The New York State Equal Rights Amendment will add “sex” as a category protected against discrimination by the New York State Constitution. It will also require that courts use a strict scrutiny standard when reviewing cases of sex discrimination. Overall, it will result in the equal treatment of women and men under New York State law, a change which will afford women new opportunities as well as deserved equalities in the future. NOW-NYS, Inc. thus strongly urges legislators to support
A-1642/S3489.
Marcia A. Pappas, President
Barbara Kirpatrick, Legislative Vice Presiden
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