It’s time for parity

Does no one remember 1972 and the attempt to get the proposed 26th Amendment added to the United States Constitution? This was the “Equal Rights Amendment” guaranteeing equal pay for equal work for women. [“Senate GOP blocks Democrats’ equal pay bill,” News, June 5.]

In 1972 I was a young mother with four children, not working at an “outside the home” job. But I was the “butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker,” firewood gatherer, seamstress, financial wizard and anything else necessary to the running of our household.

I remember how important this time was. For the first time in my life an amendment to the Constitution was proposed. I watched, listened and read about this act, realizing its importance.

However, Congress then, as now, repudiated the amendment and so did two-thirds of the states. This important amendment was never ratified.

Forty years later, this nation is still arguing about equal pay for equal work! Isn’t it time women received parity?

Republicans of the United States Senate should be ashamed of themselves for putting party above country and defeating — by “filibustering” — this bill. It adds another layer to the Republican Party’s “war on women.” Yes, it is a war on women. The Republicans’ actions confirm this over and over again. No to health care, no to family planning, no to equal pay — where does it end?

— Elizabeth M. Williams, Seahurst