President Biden says he believes the amendment has met the requirements to be enshrined in the Constitution. Its history has been long and complex.

The struggle over the Equal Rights Amendment started more than a century ago when leading suffragist Alice Paul first proposed it shortly after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

Progressive activists in Congress have put mounting pressure on President Joe Biden to direct the archivist of the United States to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment — which would become the first explicit mention of women in the U.