2026年6月28日 / 美国东部时间上午9:51 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
“法律之下的权利平等,不得因性别被合众国或任何一州加以否认或剥夺。”这就是平等权利修正案的全部内容,甚至连“女性”二字都未提及,仅短短24个词。这段话是爱丽丝·保罗写下的战斗宣言,她是推动女性在1920年获得选举权的核心人物之一。
保罗于1923年首次将平等权利修正案草案提交国会。为推动其通过的斗争持续了近50年,直到1972年才得以在国会过关。当时外界普遍认为,获得四分之三州的批准将是易如反掌的一步。87岁的女权作家莱蒂·科廷·波格雷宾说道:“为什么这么说?因为它基于正义、常识与公平。”作为《女士》杂志的创始人之一,波格雷宾是妇女运动的泰斗级人物。她曾表示:“到1975年,整个国家将会觉醒,我们将实现平等。”
1976年5月16日,游行民众在伊利诺伊州斯普林菲尔德为通过平等权利修正案示威。美联社照片
大错特错!反对声浪异常猛烈。其最响亮的声音来自保守派活动家菲利斯·施拉夫利,她在1983年曾说道:“女性确实有抱负、肯努力,但大多数女性选择将这些精力投入到经营家庭之中。”
国会为批准程序设定了截止到1982年的时限。但支持修正案的州仅停留在35个,距所需的38个州仍差3个。
即便没有平等权利修正案,社会变革也已到来。例证之一便是莱蒂·科廷·波格雷宾——对比她20世纪60年代初的职业生涯,以及她的孙女玛雅和女儿罗宾的现状。波格雷宾称,60年前,“每家职业介绍所都有一套粉色卡片,对应女性的工作,蓝色卡片则对应男性的工作”。
61岁的罗宾·波格雷宾担任《纽约时报》知名记者已有30多年。她表示:“我成长过程中并未刻意意识到存在阻碍。我们这一代人有幸享受到了上一代人打破壁垒的成果,所以我们自己不会走上街头抗议。我只是觉得,我们并没有把所有赌注都押在平等权利修正案上。”
记者玛莎·泰克纳与莱蒂·科廷·波格雷宾、莱蒂的孙女玛雅·克拉里斯以及女儿罗宾·波格雷宾。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
27岁的玛雅·克拉里斯在金融行业工作。她说:“我认识的很多女性,她们的终极目标就是成为妻子和母亲。”
克拉里斯确实打算拥有一份事业,一份了不起的事业。但平等权利修正案?她从未想过这回事。“我从未真正意识到,我在生活中是以女性的身份活着的,”她说,“当有人跟我提起我们正在推进这件事时,我当时的反应就像,‘女性在法律面前不是已经享有平等权利了吗?’”
没错!
2020年,弗吉尼亚州成为第38个批准平等权利修正案的州。但批准时限早已过期。因此,针对女性的宪法平等权利保障至今仍不存在。
与此同时,那些曾被认为早已一劳永逸解决的斗争——生殖权利、同工同酬、兵役服役等——如今再度成为争议焦点。
网络独家内容:观看与莱蒂·科廷·波格雷宾、罗宾·波格雷宾及玛雅·克拉里斯的加长对话(视频)https://www.cbsnews.com/video/extended-interview-feminism-then-and-now/
加长访谈:女权主义的过去与现在 22:31
更多相关信息:
- 莱蒂·科廷·波格雷宾,《女士》杂志联合创始人
- 罗宾·波格雷宾,《纽约时报》文化记者
本期报道由马蒂·拉法利制作。编辑:卡罗尔·罗斯
The Equal Rights Amendment: A promise unfulfilled
June 28, 2026 / 9:51 AM EDT / CBS News
“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” That’s all the Equal Rights Amendment says. No mention even of women. Just 24 words. Fighting words written by Alice Paul, a driving force behind the passage, finally, in 1920 of the vote for women.
Paul first submitted a version of the ERA to Congress in 1923. The fight to get it passed took nearly 50 years, until 1972. Getting it ratified by three-quarters of the states was supposed to be the easy part. “Why? Because it was based on justice and common sense and fairness,” said 87-year-old feminist writer Letty Cottin Pogrebin. One of the founders of Ms. Magazine, Pogrebin is a titan of the women’s movement. She said she believed, “by 1975, the country will wake up and we’ll have equality.”
Marchers in Springfield, Ill., demonstrate for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, May 16, 1976. AP Photo
Wrong! The opposition was ferocious. Its loudest voice: conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, who said in 1983, “Women do have ambition and work hard, but most women choose to apply those energies to building their family.”
Congress set a time limit for the ratification process, until 1982. But the yes votes stalled at 35, three short of the 38 states needed.
Even without the ERA, change has come. Exhibit A: Letty Cottin Pogrebin, at the beginning of her career in the early 1960s, compared to her granddaughter, Maya, and daughter, Robin. According to Pogrebin, sixty years ago, “There was a set of pink cards in every employment agency that were women’s jobs, and blue cards that were men’s jobs.”
Robin Rogrebin, 61, has been a prominent New York Times journalist for more than 30 years. “It wasn’t as if I grew up conscious of barriers,” she said. “My generation had the luxury of my mother’s generation breaking down the doors for us. So, we were not taking to the streets ourselves. I just didn’t feel like we were putting all our chips on the ERA.”
Correspondent Martha Teichner with Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Letty’s granddaughter Maya Klaris, and daughter Robin Pogrebin. CBS News
Twenty-seven-year-old Maya Klaris works in finance. “A lot of women I know, their ultimate goal is to be wives and mothers,” she said.
Klaris does intend to have a career, a big one. But the Equal Rights Amendment? Not something that ever crossed her mind. “I never really considered the fact that I was a woman in the way I was living my life,” she said. “When I was, you know, told about we were doing this, it was kind of like, do women not have equal rights under the law?”
That’s right!
In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA. But the deadline was long past. So, a constitutional guarantee of equality for women is still nonexistent.
Meanwhile, battles thought to have been decided once and for all – over reproductive rights, equal pay, military service and more – are battles once again.
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended conversation with Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Robin Pogrebin and Maya Klaris (Video)https://www.cbsnews.com/video/extended-interview-feminism-then-and-now/
Extended interview: Feminism then and now 22:31
For more info:
- Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Ms. Magazine co-founder
- Robin Pogrebin, New York Times culture reporter
Story produced by Marty Raffalli. Editor: Carol Ross.
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