Award-winning actress Meryl Streep sent a letter Tuesday to each member of Congress, asking them to restore the Equal Rights Amendment. “I am writing to ask you to stand up for equality-for your mother, your daughter, your sister, your wife or yourself-by actively supporting the Equal Rights Amendment”, the letter read. Streep has been publicly rallying for equality all year. The actress clapped and cheered her fellow nominee Patricia Arquette in her acceptance speech at the Oscars after she won the best supporting actress award. This proposed revision to the United States Constitution that would guarantee equal rights for women has been in negotiation for over four decades. Written in 1920, the amendment was introduced unsuccessfully in every legislative year in Congress from 1923 until it was finally passed in 1972. Thirty-five states ratified the amendment, but 38 states need to do so in order for it to be added to the Constitution. Perhaps she was inspired by her role in the upcoming movie Suffragette, in which she plays activist Emmeline Pankhurst, who helped women get the vote in Britain.
