The Equal Rights Amendment was first passed by Congress in 1972. Over the course of the next ten years, an initial wave of enthusiasm led to ratification of the ERA by 35 states, just three short of the 38 states needed by the 1982 deadline. In a series of short, accessible chapters looking at several key areas of sex discrimination recognised by the Supreme Court, Equal Means Equal tells the story of the legal cases that inform the need for an ERA, along with contemporary cases in which women's rights are compromised without the protection of an ERA.