Women deserve the same permanent rights and explicit protections given men in the Constitution.

My idea is that we've worked so many years for equality, but the only area where we've achieved equality, with men, is in job loss. We are still 77 cents to the dollar.

A friend of mine was married to an assistant church pastor who regularly beat her up. He was smart ?- he'd do it in a way that the bruises didn't show. For the longest time, she dealt with it. Who would believe the minister was a wife beater?! Meanwhile, my friend ? - An attorney! ? - Suffered in silence.

Because it's important. Laws can be reversed, Supreme Court decisions can be overturned, gender classifications can continue.

More women are working because they have to, that's what it takes to put the food on the table and pay the rent. And yet we have not changed our policies to support the family. The right wing goes to the floor, and they did when they were in power, and talk about family values. Well, where are they? Family values is support for child care. Family values is equal pay for equal work so that women are paid appropriately.

In America, we have long stood by the principle that the protections of the law are not meant just for some.

While men's rights are guaranteed by specific language in the Constitution, women's equal rights aren't mentioned.