t, as expressed by historians and by Ora. “Opposition to ERA is starkly paradoxical. The paradox is resolved in part by remembering that many Americans who claim to believe in equality become profoundly apprehensive when the principle is identified with specific governmental policies they consider to be intrusive and unreasonable.” (WA, 609) Ora recalls her friends having mixed emotions about the consequences of the ERA. Some women felt like the privilege of having a husband support them was too important to risk losing, as was the fear if unisex toilets. Other women thought that women’s place in society and in the future as an economic force was dormant without the passing of the ERA. Both sides had a profound impact on the future of women as an organized body for equal rights between the genders. Ora can identify results she believes stem from the women’s liberation movement of the 60’s and 70’s, in today’s society. She believes that women today possess more courage and possibility to do what they want, professionally and personally. She notices that women have become instrumental in politics, locally and nationally. However when asked what she feels is the biggest threat to women’s happiness today, she has an omnipresent response. One of the most important reverberations of women’s concerns from the 70’s still heard today is over women’s reproductive rights. Ora and many other women are concerned about politicizing women’s reproductive rights, and keeping it out of the hands of government. As a member of the Texas Abortion Rights Action League (TARAL) Ora hopes to educate other women on the dangers of the government interfering with the rights of a woman to govern her own body. Ora’s voice of activism can also be heard through the River Oaks Democratic Women’s Club.As you can see the women’s liberation movement, and legislation passed at the urg...
