Brown University
  1. Top
  2. ...
  3. Parent
  4. bdr:mcfa2ymh

From Principle to Policy: Tracing the Equal Rights Amendment's Role in Congressional Equal Pay Discourse, 1962-1982

Full Metadata

Overview

Year:
2025
Contributor:
Hamilton, Mia Jacqueline (creator)
Pinglé, Vibha (thesis advisor)
Moffitt, Susan (reader)
Brown University. Public Policy (sponsor)
Genre:
theses
Subject:
Feminism
Constitutional amendments
Equal rights amendments
Pay equity
Text data mining
Language:
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26300/n0ez-cc08

Files

Description

Abstract:
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is the only amendment authored by one generation, adopted by another, and fully ratified by yet another. This long historical arc notwithstanding, the ERA has yet to be enshrined in the Constitution. Should the ERA be viewed as a failure? Did the fight for the ERA catalyze campaigns that called attention to women’s issues and stimulated legislative action? Through an analysis of congressional speeches from 1962–1982, this thesis measures the ERA’s impact along the dimension of equal pay, a key objective articulated by its original authors. My research suggests that only 10.2% of the 800 speeches about equal pay during this period mention the ERA, contradicting hypotheses suggested by political theorists. Instead, equal pay was more commonly referenced as a strategic argument to bolster support for the ERA. An examination of contemporary ERA ratification debates paradoxically reveals that the amendment’s earlier inadequacy – its failure to sufficiently address how race and class shaped women’s access to equal pay protections – ultimately helped facilitate its reinvention. Remarkably, this reinvention has largely been led by women of color – a group previously marginalized from the ERA movement. By using the fight for a constitutional gender equality provision as a horizon-setting intervention, contemporary ERA advocates have reclaimed the ERA as a living instrument of feminist imagination.
Notes:
Senior thesis (AB)--Brown University, 2025
Concentration: International & Public Affairs

Content

Access Conditions

Use and Reproduction
All rights reserved
Rights
In Copyright
Restrictions on Use
All Rights Reserved

Citation

Hamilton, Mia Jacqueline, "From Principle to Policy: Tracing the Equal Rights Amendment's Role in Congressional Equal Pay Discourse, 1962-1982" (2025). The Watson School of International and Public Affairs Theses and Dissertations, International and Public Affairs Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://doi.org/10.26300/n0ez-cc08

Relations

Collections: