Kansans for Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) papers

After Kansas ratified the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, opposition grew. A resolution to rescind ratification was introdued in 1975 legislature, but was killed in committee. However, letters to legislators did not stop and the defeat seemed to spur opposition on. Anti-ERA letters outnumbered pro-ERA by 10 to 1. A resolution to put recission on the ballot in 1976 was also introduced in 1975 legislature and tabled until the 1976 legislative session.
Kansans for ERA began organizing in June of 1975, in Topeka, to help insure that Kansas remained one of the majority of states which had ratified the ERA. The intent of the organization was to increase public awareness of the need for the ERA; to educate Kansans about the ERA; to establish a communications network; to coordinate the effors of the many Kansans actively supporting the ERA; and to lobby against the inevitable recission attempt in the Kansas legislature. The recission attempt did not come before the legislators in 1976.
The first annual meeting of KERA was held on October 4, 1975 and the first set of bylaws were adopted. The purpose of the Kansans for ERA was to support permanent ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in Kansas and to increase public awareness of the need for the ERA by providing information on the provisions and ramifications of the amendment. In 1978, the purpose was amended to include support for the ratification of the ERA in other states. By 1983, the purpose of the Kansans for ERA was to work for the enactment of an Equal Rights Amendment.