The 14th Amendment of the Constitution was adopted in 1868 to
deal with race discrimination and to dismantle racial
segregation at the end of the Civil War. It also, for the first
time, added the word “male” to the text in regards to voting.
Essentially, this amendment guarantees all citizens equal
protection of the laws, but it wasn’t until 1920 and the
ratification of the 19th Amendment that women finally had the
right to vote. Alice Paul, famed suffragette, felt that even
with the passing of the 14th and 19th Amendments, women still
were not being protected by the Constitution. Thus, the Equal
Rights Amendment (ERA) movement was born. Since 1923, Alice Paul
and others have reworked original wording for the Amendment to
include the following three sections: Section 1: Equality of
rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or by any state on account of sex. Section 2. The
Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article. Secti