As first lady and wife of a Republican president, Betty Ford carved out a role for herself that included advocating for issues she cared about—including ratification of the ERA.
In 1965, Gerald Ford was elected by other Republicans as the House Republican minority leader when the Democrats ruled Congress. He openly fought for the ERA and played an important role for the current ERA to pass Congress. A year later, Gerald Ford was selected to be vice president by then President Richard Nixon, after Spiro Agnew resigned; he then became president after Nixon resigned in August 1974.
When the 1980 National Republican Convention in Detroit was deciding whether to keep the ERA in its platform , Betty Ford left the convention, and together with the Republican first lady of Michigan, Helen Milliken, joined the National Organization for Women’s protest march. Ellie Smeal was the president of NOW at the time, and with Ford and Milliken on either side of her, they marched with some 12,000 people through the streets of Detroit.
The campaign spearheaded by NOW was launched in Los Angeles with both Betty Ford and Alan Alda as honorary co-chair surrounded by top celebrities and women’s rights leaders. On the same day, 172 rallies were organized in 42 states. During the final year before the ratification deadline, hundreds of people, including Betty Ford, devoted their lives to passage. She made dozens, if not hundreds, of phone calls , attended meetings and rallies, and regularly conferred on strategies with ERA leaders.
“Your state legislators will be voting on the Equal Rights Amendment and if you believe they should vote with the will of the people, now is the time to tell them. Please write to your legislator now.Tell them—a vote against the Equal Rights Amendment is a vote against you … and a vote against me. Once political reporters and pollsters started to take a deeper look at gender politics, initial stories about the gender gap began to surface in 1982 by. The term has been used in media coverage of every election since and sometimes referencing the gender gulf.
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