Final Arete - Volume 4, No 1 Fall Winter 2026

Αρετή (Arete) Journal of Excellence in Global Leadership | Vol. 4 No. 1 | 2026

Figure 3 The Equal Rights Amendment of 1972

Source : Columbia Law School, 2021; Author’s Illustration (2025).

To finalize the amendment, it had requirements imposed by Congress so that it would take effect two years after it was ratified by 38 states (Columbia Law School, 2021). In 1973, 30 of the 38 states had ratified the amendment (Columbia Law School, 2021). There was a seven year extension of time implemented to achieve the ratification requirements (Columbia Law School, 2021). At the end of the ratification time limit imposed by Congress, the Equal Rights Amendment had obtained ratification by 35 states (Columbia Law School, 2021). The amendment, though, was still three states short (Columbia Law School, 2021). At this time there was a large anti-Equal Rights Amendment push along the lines of fear and misunderstanding of what such an amendment would mean to ‘traditional’ American values and as a result the amendments progress came to an abrupt stop (Columbia Law School, 2021).

354