Here we go again.  Phyllis Schlafly and her allies have recently rekindled their caustic, vituperative assault on the renamed Women's Equality Amendment and its supporters, saying, "Equal rights for women:  Wrong then, wrong now."

The proposed amendment is simple:

Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

It says nothing about abortion, same-sex marriage, or drafting women.  Nonetheless, Schafly and others will be traveling the country to encourage state legislatures to reject ratification.  Schafly claims radical feminists, now with the support of a radical, Democrat-controlled Congress, seek to advance abortion, military conscription, and the homosexual agenda.  These arguments are designed to scare women.  It's an old trick.  We must defeat it.

For many reasons, Schafly was wrong in 1973 and she is wrong now.  First, she cannot pretend to know how our current Supreme Court would interpret the Women's Equality Amendment, and there is little reason to assume that it would adopt a "radical feminist interpretation" on any issue.  And what is radical about honoring the equal citizenship principle anyway?  It seems to me that the indefensible, extremely radical position is the one that seeks to deny basic equality for all.  Thus, if we are to call names or to be afraid, the target should be those men and women who seek to deny the full power of citizenship to women.

Second, there can never be too much equality.  Instead, the problem in American law and history has consistently been too much inequality.  Indeed, American history offers much more of a monument to unequal rights than equal rights.  In 1987, Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall reminded all Americans that our Constitution was defective from the start, requiring numerous amendments, most notably, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, to bring more Americans within its scope.

Third, for most of U.S. history, women have had no rights which men were bound to respect.  Women were invisible in law, often on par with children.  That is why women and a few empathetic men organized the first Women's Rights Convention nearly one hundred sixty years ago.  Those delegates wrote their Declaration of Sentiments, outlining the many different ways that men used the law to make women unequal.  We must never forget that women are only unequal to men because men used the law to disadvantage women.  The women of Seneca Falls understood that what had been described by men as a protective pedestal was in fact a caste cage.  They demanded that men take their feet off women's backs.  Men have resisted change at every turn, with the surprising support of some women.

Fourth, despite the adoption of the Equal Protection Clause, the Supreme Court rejected the principle of gender equality until 1971, around the same time that Women's History was acknowledged as a serious academic discipline.  And even when the Court changed its interpretation, it did not insist that government affirmatively dismantle gender caste.  The Court adopted a legal framework which left most gender disadvantage invisible to legal remedy.

Fifth, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Myra Bradwell, and Virginia Minor, among many other brave women, were all told by the Supreme Court that basic constitutional principles provided them no protection against discrimination.  Women were closed out of political participation, prevented from holding certain jobs, and were denied rights available to men.  According to the Court, the equality guarantee applied one way for men and differently for women, allowing governments to disadvantage women.

Sixth, since women were locked out of men's clubs, union halls, and legislative assemblies, they formed their own national women's associations to advance their rights to equal employment, equal wages, and the right to vote.

Seventh, finally, in 1920, Susan B. Anthony's dream of national women's suffrage became a reality, at least for many white women.  African American women were denied that basic right, along with other civil rights, until the 1960s.

Eighth, it was also in the 1960s that the federal government approved birth control and the Supreme Court declared that states could not prevent married persons from receiving birth control devices from their doctors.  Moreover, in 1963, the Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act.  In 1964, Congress enacted Title VII, barring discrimination in employment on account of sex or race.  These legal reforms have still not eliminated gender caste, even if they have made it slightly easier to present a gender discrimination claim.

Ninth, women have also led campaigns to improve workplace safety, minimum wages, fair hiring practices, and for paid parental leave, affordable childcare, against domestic violence and sexual harassment in the workplace.  Much more work is needed in every area.

Tenth, in summary, women have had to fight for basic rights that most men have been able to take for granted.  That's unfair.

 It is time we stopped treating our mothers, sisters, and daughters as second-caste persons.  The consequences of gender inequality have been catastrophic.  Equality for all:  right then, right now!