In This Story
Associate Professor Bonnie Stabile, associate dean for student and academic affairs at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, was a featured speaker at a July 21 press conference for an ERA Centennial Celebration on Capitol Hill. Stabile was joined on the platform by U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (VA), U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley (MA-7), Cori Bush (MO-1), Jennifer McClellan (VA-4), Don Beyer (VA-8), and others, including those who led the 2020 campaign to make Virginia the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
The press conference and rally served as a send off for a busload of attendees to the ERA Centennial Convention, taking place in Seneca Falls, New York, the town where suffragist Alice Paul first introduced the ERA as its coauthor 100 years ago.
“It was an honor to be asked to speak alongside so many prominent leaders in the fight to affirm the ratification of the ERA and move towards making it the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” said Stabile, who is founding director of the Schar School’s Gender and Policy Center (GAP). “Enshrining the ERA in the Constitution would be a long-overdue mechanism for advancing equality and ensuring legal protections against discrimination based on sex or gender identity.”
At the GAP, Stabile said, “we investigate and strive to address the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and public authority. Research shows that outcomes are better for all when women occupy leadership roles more proportionally in the population. Safeguarding the rights of women and other underrepresented groups through legal and policy mechanisms such as the ERA can both promote justice and lead to those improved life outcomes for all citizens.”
Last year Stabile was appointed to the Ms. Committee of Scholars, a diverse group of feminist thought leaders who contribute research and theories to advance and shape feminist thinking. The committee is organized by the leadership of the popular Ms. Magazine.
Also speaking at Friday’s event were former Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Eileen Filler-Corn, the first woman to hold that office; Vice President of the National Organization for Women Bear Atwood; President and CEO of the ERA Collation and the Fund for Women’s Equality Zakiya Thomas; Youth Advocate for Voters of Tomorrow Samad Quraishi; and President and Cofounder of the Feminist Majority Foundation Ellie Smeal.