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Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys said there should be an \u201cupdate\u201d on guaranteeing women equal rights as the country celebrates its 250th anniversary<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keys posted the video to promote People\u2019s Bill of Rights 250<\/a>, a national campaign inviting people to collaborate in creating laws. The campaign welcomes legislative ideas in all areas, but women\u2019s issues are the causes Keys chose to highlight in her video.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you know it\u2019s been 100 years since the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced? And now, still, women do not have an explicit guarantee to equal rights under the U.S. Constitution,\u201d Keys said in an Instagram video<\/a> posted on July 4.<\/p>\n The ERA was first proposed in 1923 and was a constitutional amendment that prohibited discrimination \u201con account of sex.\u201d The amendment would\u2019ve marked the first time sex-based equality was explicitly outlined in the Constitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the ERA was never added to the Constitution.<\/p>\n As Article 5 of the Constitution<\/a> outlines, amending the Constitution requires that at least two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate pass a resolution with the text of the proposed amendment. Following congressional passage, at least three-fourths of the states must ratify the amendment.\u00a0<\/p>\n The ERA was passed in 1973 with bipartisan support, but failed to get 38 states to ratify it within the seven-year time limit as outlined in the preamble of the congressional-passed legislation. In 1982, the ERA fell three states short of ratification.<\/p>\n In 2020, the ERA finally reached the 38-state threshold of ratification for adoption, but since it happened after the time limit, it was not added to the Constitution.<\/p>\n Keys said she \u201ccouldn\u2019t believe\u201d it had been over 100 years since the ERA had been proposed.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen are not asking for special rights, just equal rights,\u201d Keys said. \u201cLet\u2019s turn outrage into authorship. If it\u2019s the 250th anniversary of the celebration of the country, isn\u2019t it time to update some things? What rights or guarantees do you feel all women should have in America?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good question,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Keys said the video wasn\u2019t meant to \u201cspeak for\u201d people but to engage them and question the current structures.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to pass you the mic, so have your say at peoplesbillofrights.org<\/a>,\u201d she said. \u201cNot red, not blue, just you.\u201d<\/p>\n BIDEN SAYS EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT SHOULD BE RATIFIED BUT STOPS SHORT OF DIRECT ORDER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg<\/a> argued that in the \u201cevent of legislative default,\u201d the ERA would provide courts with an \u201cunassailable basis for applying the bedrock principle: All men and women are guaranteed by the Constitution equal justice under law,\u201d according to a law review she wrote in 1979<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the absence of the ERA, the Supreme Court<\/a> has used the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to prohibit sex-based discrimination. The 1971 Reed v. Reed<\/em><\/a> ruling first established this interpretation of the 14th Amendment in securing protection against gender discrimination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n