From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Women's Rights and the Constitution.

Hello again, I'm Olinnelly, and this is an archived edition of To the Point from PRI,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most. On this

Fourth of July, a lot of people think that equal rights for women are part of the Constitution.

They are not. The Equal Rights Amendment got the required two-thirds of Congress in 1972,

but by the deadline, ten years later, it was three states short of the 38 needed to pass.

With Nancy Pelosi now the first female

House Speaker in history, the ERA is back under a new name, the Women's Equality Amendment.

On to the point, an idea as old as women's suffrage. Does it finally have a chance? Would

women lose as much as they might gain? On reporter's notebook this 4th of July,

where is the call for patriotic service? First, the news. Support for To the Point comes from

subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors

include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation.

Hello again. Woman, only back with an archived Fourth of July edition of To the Point.

The Equal Rights Amendment for Women is back under a new name, the Women's Equality Amendment.

But some natural supporters are more fatigued than they are excited.

On To the Point, would changing the Constitution have

unintended consequences? We'll hear about better salaries, benefits, and workplace environments,

along with the right to same-sex marriage and the possible loss of existing protections.

On reporter's notebook, after four years of war in Iraq, the president still has not called

for national sacrifice. We'll talk about public service

...