My job as a research scientist studying earthquakes and volcanoes occasionally took me to Washington, DC. I took advantage of a couple of these trips to take my kids to see the nation's capital, both my daughter and her younger brother at different times.

My daughter came with me when I went to DC as a member of a National Academy of Sciences review panel. Between panel meetings my daughter and I did most of the typical tourist things available in DC, visiting the Mall, museums and memorials. As a Vietnam era draftee and Vietnam veteran, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is always both difficult to visit and impossible to avoid on trips to Washington. But my daughter tells me we didn't visit it that trip.

One evening, maybe at the end of the panel deliberations, the NAS treated all the panelists to dinner at a fancy restaurant. My daughter came with me. She may have been the only female at the table. I believe all of the panelists were white males. I just did a brief search to see what fraction of the geoscience faculty is female. The most recent data I found was 10 years old, and at that time women constituted only 20% of the faculty positions in geoscience. This panel did not meet even that low threshold.

After dinner my daughter commented to me on how unpleasant the company was. The conversation was dominated by various scientists trying to one-up each other with how accomplished and clever they were. Having worked and lived in that world for years, I think I was desensitized, used to it, and assuming that was just how people interacted. Seeing it through my daughter's eyes gave me a whole new perspective on male behavior. Her comment when reading a preview of this story:

"I will say that that situation gave me a preview of what it's like to be the only woman at the table and probably helped me to make my way in science and speak my mind on issues I feel strongly about no matter who is in the room."

In spite of her experience with scientists during that dinner, my daughter later went on to earn a PhD of her own in chemistry, before moving on from science.

The funniest incident of the trip occurred when we checked into our hotel the first day. The desk clerk looked at our names on the register and said: "Oh, it's Bill and Hillary". My daughter's name is Hillary and mine is William. Although I have never used the nickname Bill, it was still amusing. Our trip occurred during the Clintons' tour in the White House, obviously.

When I last lived in the US, it was in Colorado and I still vote there. My daughter lives in Germany and votes in California.

I was shocked to read that men of any race were constitutionally given the vote over 50 years before women of any race could hope to exercise this fundamental democratic right. In 1867 the 15th Amendment, stated that voting rights could not be “denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” whereas these rights were still denied to all women till 1920. My mother told me "There will be a black man as president long before we have a woman president" Women still earn considerably less than men for the same job in countries all over the world. It is embarassing and indeed shameful for me as an American to have to explain why American women - even now in the 21st century - still do not have equal rights. How can a country which should stand for "liberty and justice for all" still deny half of its citizens equality? And rank behind a dozen other countries in equal rights? I have to ask what happened to our ideals and which century we are living in! Let us pass the ERA and finally grant American rights to all Americans!   Live in Germany, Vote in California

Yes, it's true, 60 is just around the corner for me and I remember, like others who grew up in the 70s, all the talk of the ERA. Frankly, it's an embarassment to the United States government that the ERA has, in 2021, yet to become enshrined in our constitution. Women absolutely deserve this right alongside their male counterparts, hands down. I support and demand that women have this right already as a man who has been shaped and influenced by strong, caring women from my family through to my education in public schools, to my working career. Women have been influencing me my whole life; in first job, my female boss taught me well. In my second job, there was the female mentor molding and shaping me for what turned out to be quite a good career in banking. I was always open to female leadership and guidance having grown up in a household of women only. And many of my best friends in life have been strong women from all walks of life. In this year of the pandemic and almost a quarter into the 21st century, I find it sad and discouraging that American women still do not enjoy the same rights as I as a man. The ERA must become a part of the Constitution giving them the absolute same and unquestionable rights as their male counterparts. American living in Spain and voting in New York.

An exceptionally gifted woman, extremely intelligent and cultured sadly is no longer with us. Lisa Marini Finerty was our beloved and never forgotten Democrats Abroad Rome Chapter Chair back in 2008 during the Obama's candidacy and she energized us members with an uncommon vitality and drive to make sure most Americans living in Rome were eligible to vote and thanks to her she would be able to make sure to gather an enormous amount of votes for Obama from Rome. This is what happened back then: One morning I was on my computer when I got an email from her that linked to a video of La Repubblica daily online (center-left leaning), where she was due to debate the upcoming presidential election moderated by an Italian-American journalist against her Republicans Abroad opposite, a rather powerful executive been living in Rome for many years and evidently bilingual. The email's text was more or less like: "this is the debate I'm having with Republicans Abroad rep. in Rome: Tell me how I am doing". So, I opened it and unfortunately she did not very well, insisting on debating in Italian and the confrontation was embarrassingly unequal and thanks to the moderator that avoided total disaster. I felt so sorry for her and did not have the courage to tell her her linguistic debacle given also that in a rather short time a very important event was scheduled in a theater near Termini train station here in Rome, and she was designed to be the keynote speaker on an evening promoting Obama's candidacy before an audience of all the most important political left-leaning big shots in Rome as well as our Democrat Abroad members; even Rome's mayor was there, a left-leaning former journalist and one of the founders of the Italian Democratic Party. Full house. The theater was packed. I was so puzzled by her choice to still insisting delivering the speech in Italian mindful of what happened on that video a while back. When her turn was on I was sweating all over and basically holding my breath: She did marvelously, she delivered a brilliant speech in perfect Italian, and I was so amazed I could not believe my ears. How on earth she progressed from a very poor performance to a perfect one in such a short time, I will never know let alone I would not be able to speak before a huge crowd myself. She brought the house down and I was so proud of her being our Chair then. Thank you Lisa. Democrats Abroad Rome member voting in California.

When I was a little girl, the first hobby I picked up was Tawkwon-do. I was good. The boys in my dojo didn't like practicing against a girl who could rack up points on them without effort. I vividly remember my first district competition. I beat 6 boys, some taller and older than me. As I look back at pictures on that day, my hand held high by the referee, I was shy about my wins in the moment but super proud of my trophies once home safe with family. After a year of training, my mom told me one day that I needed to keep up my practice as I got older. She told me the reason she signed me up was so I would know how to protect myself. It was at that point I viewed the entire sport differently. I lost my passion to simply enjoy the rhythm of the moves, the confidence and passion from yelling my kais drained. I saw it as a chore, something I must do to fend off the world.

In my freshman year as a veterinary medicine university student I was surrounded by brilliant minds, taught by male professors with egos to match their booming voices. That shyness crept up again as I quietly watched the young men, full of confidence, match their professors wit and wisdom. It was a camaraderie I couldn't relate to at all. Half way through the term, I had a meeting with the professor. He asked me what type of medicine I wanted to practice. I told him "large, farm animal". His response, "You're too small to be successful. Those farm animals will knock you into next week." I changed my major to Elementary Education in the Spring.

My 4th year teaching, my colleague started planning for a family and shared her news with our team about the difficulties. She was attempting to time her pregnancy so the baby would be born in the summer. She wanted to spend more than 6 weeks with her newborn. This was for financial reasons but also because she wanted to breastfeed as long as possible. Single and carefree, it never crossed my mind to consider any of this. The whole conversation all seemed a little off but I didn't dwell on it.

All these moments in my life happened without the Equal Rights Amendment. If Congress decided in 1923, when the ERA was first proposed, to amend the Constitution and include women as equals, I wonder how would that have impacted my childhood, my college experience, my career, my family? If the ERA had been ratified 97 years ago, I would like to think that gender equality would have changed America so by the time I was born my mom would have simply encouraged Taekwon-do because I enjoyed it. Maybe that professor would have viewed my potential based on my mind instead of physical size. Perhaps teachers wouldn't need to plan their pregnancy around the school calendar. Ratifying the ERA means more than granting women equality under law. It is a statement to the world that America views women as equals. We must ratify the ERA now or this moment might be lost for another 97 years. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once explained, “I would like my granddaughters when they pick up the U.S. Constitution to see that … women and men are persons of equal stature. I’d like them to see that that is a basic principle of our society.”

Jamie M, Colorado voter residing in Edinburgh, Scotland

I'm 63 years old. I've been waiting for this since the '70s. Let's hope these 24 words finally change the world for the better--and for all of us.  Votes in Minnesota, Lives in France

As a child I knew that the ERA existed, and that its existence would matter. My country would care – about me. My country has a powerful and beautiful constitution, but for centuries, even this precious constitution did not actually protect the rights of women in their everyday – ordinary, simple, basic - pursuits of life, liberty and happiness. I have three sisters, five nieces and innumerable beloved women friends. The changes we could enjoy will take new awareness, advanced thought, and exceptional government.

As a little girl, I knew that the ERA existed, and that it would be good. It should be noted for both sides of this question that the full ratification of the amendment will not necessarily have a direct impact on existing laws, statutes, or lives. But its existence alone would be, for me, as essential and profound as the constitution itself. It is something we could hold onto, have faith in, and something to be proud of.  Carolyn, living in Germany, voting in Pennsylvania

My mom, Vera Moritz, was and still is my inspiration for being a strong, politically active woman and fighter of the ratification of The Equal Rights Amendment. She was a patron and advocate of Planned Parenthood, worked tirelessly for the success of Title IX, and was a life-long campaigning Democrat and social activist. Thank you, Mom! She would be astounded that in 2021, we are still fighting for ratification. My mom also had a healthy distain for, “that woman””, conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly and would turn her head whenever she was on tv. (Mom did the same for Reagan, and the Bushes) Schlafly, who led the STOP ERA campaign, was convinced that the amendment would lead to gender-neutral bathrooms, same-sex marriage, and women in military combat, among other things. Well, Phyllis, these things and more have arrived without the ERA in place. So, your side has lost on those fronts. The time is long overdue for ratification of the ERA, and for women to occupy seats in all levels of our government and business, and to take our rightful places in the decision-making of society. We are the majority of the population, we are the guardians of the future generations, we are the heartbeat of the planet. We the People, need Constitutionally guaranteed protection for gender equity within all realms of society and recourse for the unfair laws and regulations that are interpreted against our best interests because we are women. My name is Christine Moritz, I vote in Colorado and live in Germany and Egypt.

It has been 97 years since the first version of the ERA was written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. Well, we have waited too long and it is about time to ratify ERA. Constitution rights for me as a woman, to all women must be the same as men.

Early this month, I was preparing for the International Women’s Day talk addressing delegates from around the globe. My topic was the Challenges faced by Women in Technology, fears and gaps and the impact on high-tech with less women’s involvement. The data I came across while preparing for the talk was astonishing.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects Computer Science & Research jobs will grow 19% by 2026. The above chart indicates there are not as many women entering the workforce. We not only have a deficit in women technologists but on average a woman earns 87% of what a man earns.

Decades have passed yet the gender parity, equality seems a distant mirage. Women are still deprived to be on the critical decision-making forums resulting in widening the gender gaps. All this arises only because women do not have equal rights under the law. We must take the step forward. Equal Rights must be enshrined in our Constitution. ERA Now!

Suma Shamanna, lives in India and votes in Oregon.

When I was a young girl and writing my first thank-you note to an adult friend of the family for a gift she had given me, my mother taught me how to “properly” address the envelope to “Mrs. Her Husband’s Name.” What? I asked, “I am not writing to him, but to her!” That is when I learned that a married woman was worse off than me, a girl. At least I could use my name, all a married woman got was an “s”. She was invisible. When I was in high school, “Ms.” was introduced as the counterpart to “Mr.”; a woman could use her own name and keep her age and marital status as neutral as a man. At about the same time the ERA was passed in 1972. We were making progress, weren’t we? “What do we need that for?” asked one of the local (male) student movement leaders about the ERA. For all too many men, even on the left, women may not have been so invisible, but they were still irrelevant. Women are no longer invisible or irrelevant, but we are still not constitutionally protected against the persistence of unequal pay for equal work, discrimination in our judicial system, or cultural or systemic misogyny (e.g., why isn’t rape considered a hate crime?). In 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, to please “remember the ladies” when drawing up the first US Constitution. Neither he nor the rest of the Framers did. Well, we are no longer polite, invisible, and irrelevant ladies asking for our rights. We are demanding them —in the Constitution. Now! Dona Geyer, a Maryland voter living in Germany (where there is an equal rights clause in the constitution)

I've been an American living in Germany since 1972 and truly appreciate the democratic freedoms and standards that are protected under the German Grundgesetz or Basic Law. I fully support the ERA amendment to the US Constitution because it clearly and emphatically supports equal rights for all men and women. It is important that this amendment be enshrined in the Constitution to guard against unfair, arbitrary discriminating and biased acts and practices as well as violence against women. It would protect the equal rights of both men and women and people of gender. I am opposed to the efforts of those few states objecting to the ERA amendment based on technical questions, spurious deadline obstacles or reasons of form. It begs the question as to the motive why those states object to equal rights for all residents. Jane, living in Germany, voting in Illinois

“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.“ Pretty simple. As a young girl and teenager, I remember how excited my mom, friends and I were about the ERA. NOW and Martha Griffiths were actively making progress in our name! It seemed inevitable and the right thing that the ERA would be passed and ratified. Decades later it still has yet to be fully ratified. Honestly that feels horrible and is a betrayal of all Americans, keeping over half the population down, limiting them in fully blossoming into all they can and want to be. How can that be good for the health and strength of a country? That was also the era when my mom, as many other women, signed and was known as “Mrs. Willard Jones”. Luckily that has ended (I think even in Austria). We all have the right to a personal identity as well as equal opportunities and options. It is long overdue that the basic human and civil rights are guaranteed for all. Adding the ERA as an amendment is an important part of that. I know it is what my mother, Betty, would be thrilled about and proudly boast, “we finally did it!” We = USA.  I live in Germany, vote in Colorado.

Dear Member of Congress, Federal courts have ruled that the ERA cannot be included in our great nation's Constitution because the 1982 deadline has passed. This will go up to the Supreme Court. I cannot change what the Supreme Court thinks or what it may decide to do, but what I can do is talk with you. If I can convince you to join me in my support for extending or removing the deadline, the ERA may yet become ratified as the 28th Amendment. This would be a momentous victory for women in all walks of life. Veterans like me have watched the role of women in our nation's military grow ever closer to equal standing with men. In 1917, Loretta Walsh became the first woman to join the military outside of the Nurse Corps. In 1920, women finally had their own voice in elections when the 14th Amendment was ratified. In 1947, General Dwight D. Eisenhower (later President!) commissioned Colonel Florence Blanchfield into the US Army as a Lieutenant Colonel making her the first woman to ever hold permanent rank. Soon after, in 1948, Congress passed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act that made women a permanent part of the US military. In 1970, Colonel Anne May Haes became the first woman to ever hold a flag rank when she was promoted to Brigadier General. In 1976, the first women were admitted to the US Service Academies. In 1990, Commander Darlene Iskra became the first woman to command a US Naval vessel, paving the way for women to start serving on combatant ships in 1994. In 1993, Major General Jeannie Leavitt (then a Lieutenant) became the first female fighter pilot. In 2002, Command Sergeant Major of the US Army Reserve Michele S Jones became the first woman to become the enlisted head of a branch of the US military. In 2008, General Ann Dunwoody became the first woman to achieve four star rank. In 2010, the Department of the Navy authorized women to serve onboard submarines. In 2011, the first group of women checked on board. In 2015, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter lifted the ban on women serving in ground combat roles, paving the way for the first groups of women to enter into the infantry in 2016. Now, in 2021, we have an opportunity to add to this list of achievements made by American women: passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. With this, the role of women in American society cannot be made less than ever again. Thank you for your time and consideration, PO2 Anthony Michael Nitz, USN, Retired NC-5 Voter Living in Vietnam

I've recently gotten engaged, and it's made me think a lot about the kind of world that I want my children to grow up in. My mom was younger than I am now when the fight for the ERA began - I don't want my children fighting the same battles! I want them to grow up in a country where their rights are enshrined in the constitution, regardless of their gender. -Kenzie, Arizona voter living in London

I live in Germany, but I spent most of my life in the country of my birth, the United States of America. In Germany, I have equal rights, and it has improved the quality of my life. It's taken too long for women in America to have equal rights, and it's unfair. When I was a girl, people told me I could be anything I wanted, but it's not true.

Employers can pay women less than men for the same job. The first time I realized I wasn't getting paid as much as a recently hired man, I immediately went to my boss. My boss told me the man had a family and need to make more. My family's needs were the same as his family's. Why is this okay? It is acceptable because women don't have equal rights under the Constitution, so we don't have equal protection under the law. Having women in Congress, as the Vice-President, and in other positions of "power" is a hollow victory if the average woman faces legal discrimination in so many areas of her life.

My mother, my sisters, and I have been waiting all our lives for equality under the law. There is no reason for us to keep us waiting. Equality must be enshrined in our Constitution.

Eighty-four percent of countries, including Afghanistan, Japan, and Tunisia, explicitly guarantee equality in their Constitution. It's about time American women also have equal rights.

Angela Fobbs, Florida voter, living in Germany

Since studying the story of the ERA movement's history at the University of Southern Indiana, I have felt driven to contribute however I can to it's eventual addition to the US Constitution. As a white man who has always benefited from the protections that the Constitution grants me, it is my duty to be an ally and add my voice to those of everyone else who stands united demanding equality in the provision of our nation's foundational legal document. The time was then and the time is now! Indiana Voter living in Germany

This is a picture of my mom and me at the Women's March in D.C. on Jan. 21st, 2017, her 73rd birthday. We'd been planning our trip to Washington for months - thought we'd be going to watch the first woman President get sworn in. My mom has fought for women's rights her whole life, so I thought she should be there on that historic day. I still hope we'll be there, when that day finally arrives. In the meantime, I'd like her to see passage of the ERA. FINALLY. That it's taken decades to accomplish is a blemish on our country. A disgrace. If we are ever going to reach the American ideal that all are equal under the law, we can start with this one easy step, to declare that half of the country are not second-class citizens. Please extend the deadline for passage and give women the constitutionally protected equality every person deserves.  Live in Germany, Vote in Washington

My mother aspired to be a doctor—but as an undergraduate at Northwestern just prior to World War 2, she was discouraged, because of her gender. America lost a great doctor. However, some 70 years later, her granddaughter, graduated from Georgetown Medical School and now is a practicing child psychiatrist in Menlo Park. Progress has been made. But one pillar of that campaign for equal rights and equal opportunity—the tent pole that should be at the epicenter--is missing from our Constitution. And that is the Equal Rights Amendment. Women--and people across the gender spectrum--still face discrimination. Official recognition of our equal rights deserves to be enshrined in our nation’s founding document. During my career in New York broadcast news, I benefited from the women’s movement of the seventies, which campaigned against widespread discrimination against women in the media. Barbara Walters was hired as the first evening news anchor—and the optics required that she have at least one woman writer on the network news staff—and that was me. But at various times in my career I bumped up against overt and disguised sexism--and finally crashed out of ABC News, with a concussion from repeatedly banging my head against the glass ceiling. The USA likes to portray itself as a world leader—yet we lag behind many other nations that already have constitutional guarantees for equal rights for women. The U.S. Constitution reflects the attitudes of its era—written entirely by white, privileged men. Our founding document needs to evolve to meet the social and cultural realities of our time—and more concretely to provide essential support for litigating sex discrimination cases in the courts. Under the last administration, we witnessed an intensified backlash against the advancement of women’s rights. We must now move forward now—and the ERA amendment is a key element in the progress, for the sake of our daughters, granddaughters and young women everywhere who have so much to contribute if given a fair chance. Meredith Wheeler lives in France and votes in New York

In 1975 North Dakota ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. At about the same time, there is a picture of my Grandmother Helen at her college graduation. In her late 50s, Helen had gone back to college to get her 4-year teaching degree. She had been a teacher all her life, from one room pioneer schoolhouses to reservations, to small North Dakota towns, she had always made the best out of her situation. Once, when offered the chance to teach a new subject, she stayed up all night sewing her first pair of trousers so she could teach phy-ed the next morning. Her innovation was recognized and in the 1960s Helen was offered a job at the state capital to create school curriculum. She was unable to get her husband’s permission to accept the offer, so Helen kept teaching locally and continued to make the best out of her situation in an over 40-year long career. Situations that women must make “the best out of” are my reason for supporting the ERA. These situations are rarely acknowledged in society and not at all in the United States’ current legal and judicial systems. Social Security, taxes, wages, pensions, domestic relations, insurance, and violence continue to be seen in a framework based only on the male experience. Women were never part of “the people” mentioned in the US Constitution and later amendments promised equal protection and voting rights only for men. There have been many attempts to make “the best out of” the current constitutional situation – and, sometimes, rulings have been interpreted to benefit women - but there are still no assurances. In my home state of North Dakota, some are arguing that the states’ ERA ratification in 1975 was a mistake; that women don’t need any additional recognition or protection under the constitution. This, while women in the North Dakota state legislature have never had more than 22% of the seats, and for each dollar a man earns, women in North Dakota earn 27 cents less. I support the Equal Rights Amendment because I want a world where women don’t have to problem-solve and make “the best out of” situations. I want a world where women in North Dakota, and America, can just BE their best.  Lives in Ukraine, votes in North Dakota

The United States has for too long touted the ideals of equality, without actually practicing them. The ERA is a crucial step toward equality for all in the United States. Our charge as Americans is to work for equality and equity at home so that everyone can prosper, everyone can participate in society, and everyone can benefit. Thorin, South Carolina voter in Germany.