Women’s March MN volunteer testifies to support ERA

Guest post by Women’s March MN volunteer Ann Treacy

This week, ERA Minnesota invited me to testify with them to support their bills in the Minnesota House and Senate. (One bill asks legislators to put the Equal Rights Amendment on the ballot to let voters decide if the ERA should be part of the Minnesota constitution. The other bill would send a resolution to Congress urging them to ratify the federal ERA.) I testified with my mom and my youngest daughter – three generations of one family experiencing life without equal rights.

It was both nerve wracking and exciting. You can read more about it on our family blog. Big thanks to ERA Minnesota, a powerful group that has worked tirelessly for years – founded by former Representative Betty Folliard and led by Suzann Wilhite. And they aren’t working alone either – there’s a great group of folks  – a sea of green you see all over town. Also, ig thanks to the legislators who are moving us forward but introducing bills and getting them heard – Rep Her, Rep Bahner, Sen Pappas and Sen Kunesh. It’s exciting to be so close – a mere 100 years after it was first raised!

One quick observation … civic engagement is hard because for most of us it means taking a day off work, maybe getting a babysitter, getting to St Paul – never mind you have to know who to contact, how and when. Lobbying is easier – you get paid, you’ve probably gone to school to learn what to do and you build relationships with the legislators so less scary and you have time to chat between meetings in case there’s something you’ve forgotten to say in testimony. Technology has helped because you can at least watch meetings remotely but it feels like sometimes the barriers to civic engagement give policymakers a skewed view of what “most people” think – because “most people” they see are lobbyists or people who can afford to take time out to speak up.