The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was originally proposed in Congress in 1923. Just three years after the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote, this proposal aimed to secure full equality for women under the law. It did not receive congressional approval at the time, but the Equal Rights Amendment was reintroduced to Congress in 1971 during the second-wave feminist movement. In 1972, Congress officially passed the ERA, which stated, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” It was then submitted to the states for ratification. Within a year, thirty states approved the ERA; it needed approval from thirty-eight states for ratification, which seemed imminent.