(April 9, 2024) The Maryland ERA-affirming resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 1, passed on the House floor. The resolution clearly affirms the Legislature’s view that the federal Equal Rights Amendment is valid and should finally be published as a part of the United States Constitution.
Since the beginning of the 2024 legislative session, MWHC has joined numerous other women’s advocacy groups to urge legislators to support this measure. As the only state organization devoted to women’s history, MWHC also contributed a largely unknown historical perspective: Over 60 years ago, Maryland was the fourth state in the country to pass a bill urging Congress to adopt the ERA as a constitutional amendment. When signing that bill, Governor J. Millard Tawes gave the gold pen he used to the woman whom he credited with getting that bill passed, Harford County resident and suffragist Elizabeth Chew Forbes, as a “token of her 40 years fighting for women’s rights.”
Congratulations to the many organizations and women who worked for months to advocate for this legislation, including MWHC board member Judy Carbone.
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