Meryl Streep demands Congress bring back Equal Rights Amendment

The award-winning winning actress Meryl Streep sent a letter on Tuesday to each member of Congress asking to restore the Equal Rights Amendment.

Congress passed the ERA in 1972, which was ratified by 35 states. Unfortunately, 38 states are needed in order to add the amendment to the Constitution.

Conservative opposition towards the ERA had ended the progress that was being made and forced it into political storage. The amendment, which has been inactive for the last four decades, would ensure that women would receive equality under the law.

The Associated Press reports that in the letter Streep wrote, “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.”

Each packet included a book titled “Equal means Equal” by Jessica Neuwirth who is the president of the ERA Coalition.

The 66-year-old continued on to talk about how the ERA is especially relevant because of the current social climate. “A whole new generation of women and girls are talking about equality- equal pay, equal protection from sexual assault, equal rights.”

Streep will also be playing a feminist in theaters. She stars in the film about British suffragette leader Emmenline Pankhurst, informs the The Guardian. Pankhurt fought British legislation to allow women the right to vote and succeeded in 1928.

The film is directed by Sarah Gavron and will premier at the London Film Festival in October.

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