September 22, 1932: Amelia Earhart Lobbies for the ERA at the White House
Amelia Earhart and four other members of the National Woman’s Party lobbied for the Lucretia Mott (Equal Rights) Amendment today at a meeting with President Hoover in the White House.
(President Hoover, with whom she met today, presenting Amelia Earhart with the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society on June 21st of this year for her Transatlantic solo flight.)
Earhart and Anita Pollitzer did most of the talking, with the President paying close attention to what they had to say. Long-time N.W.P. members Burnita Matthews, Anna Kelton Wiley and Ruth Taunton were also present. Earhart told Hoover:
I know from practical experience of the discriminations which confront women when they enter an occupation where men have priority in opportunity, advancement and protection. In aviation the Department of Commerce recognizes no differences between men and women licensed to fly. I feel that similar equality should be carried into all fields of endeavor, so that men and women may achieve without handicap because of sex.
As far as our country is concerned, in every State of the Union today there are discriminations against women in the law. I join with the National Woman’s Party in hoping for the speedy passage of the Lucretia Mott Amendment, which would write into the highest law of our land that ‘men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction.’ Your own statements on equality of opportunity make me believe you understand our desire.
At a meeting with an N.W.P. delegation on January 5th of last year, the President expressed his opposition to the growing practice of firing married women workers to make jobs available to men as a means of allegedly easing the unemployment crisis.
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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/09/22/september-22-1932-amelia-earhart-lobbies-for-the-era-at-the-white-house/
