Val Dumond, publisher, writer, editor, and author
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Grammar For Grownups
A manual for people who have to use language in the real world.

Whatever Happened to the E.R.A.?
by Val Dumond
©2006

Back in 1978, or thereabouts, a group of women (and men) met in Olympia to hold a wake that mourned the death of the Washington State Women's Commission. Just a few years ago, Tacoma's Women's Awareness Week was discontinued. Then a year ago, the Women's Division was dropped from the city's Human Rights office. What's happening with the rights of women - not only in Washington State, but across the country?

One of my current projects is to collect data about the level of understanding of the role of women's rights in this country (USA). So far I sense that people under the age of 20 have no concept of what's missing. And those older have forgotten the struggles of dedicated women in the 1960s and '70s.

Please help me out here!

Take a look at the following seven questions and, if you feel like it, send your answers to me by using this handy contact form. If you want to follow up on your answers, just ask, and attach your email address to your answers. Next month, I'll print my "dissertation" on the subject. (See? I'm learning academia talk!)

ERA SURVEY

1. What does ERA stand for, as it pertains to women?
a) Education Rights Amendment
b) Equal Rights Amendment
c) Economic Recovery Act
d) Equal Rights Act

2. The ERA was first proposed in:
a) 1923
b) 1945
c) 1978
d) 1982

3. The ERA was made into law in
a) 1923
b) 1945
c) 1978
d) 1982

4. The ERA was ratified by
a) 33 states
b) 35 states
c) 38 states
d) all 50 states

5. The rights of women are clearly protected
a) in the U.S. Constitution
b) in the new Iraq Constitution
c) in the Bill of Rights
d) in the Women's Rights Act of 1975

6. The 14th Amendment
a) assures women's rights in the Constitution
b) provides voting privileges for "all citizens"
c) excludes women by reference to "voting males"
d) was written by a woman

7. In the U.S. Constitution
a) the rights of women are not spelled out
b) the words "citizens" and "persons" are not meant to apply to women and blacks
c) separate amendments were necessary to secure the vote for women and blacks
d) all of the above

Would you like me to follow up with you on your answers?
yes
no

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Please feel free to contact me. I welcome your comments and any specific questions you may have.

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Val Dumond
P.O. Box 97124
Tacoma, WA 98497
Phone/Fax: 253.582.5453
Email: Val@valdumond.com