Zoe Ann Nicholson, founder of ERA Once and for All has not lost her faith in social justice, her taste for activism or her belief in Constitutional Equality.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Activist, author and speaker, Zoe Nicholson holds a B.A. in Theology, Quincy University, 1969 and a M.A. in Ethics, USC, 1975. She began her professional life teaching high school for five years. In 1976, she opened and operated The Magic Speller Bookstore, a women’s bookstore in Newport Beach, CA. In 1982, she joined six women in Springfield, Illinois., in a public and political fast for 37 days in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. Her memoir is The Hungry Heart ~ A Women's Fast for Justice.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
A couple of years ago I was fortunate to hear Dr Robert Thurman, Columbia University endowed chair and president of Tibet House, speak at the Newport Library on the intersection of politics and Buddhism. Accepting questions, a man in the front row asked him, "What do you think is the state of Enlightenment in the world?" Dr. Thurman walked over to him and said it is not very good. "You can see it in the fact that the ERA failed." He continued, "The advancement of the country and the world depends on women." He went on to say that men will not lead the world forward; it will be women and the question is will women stand up and take it on. My spirit shouted out, “I WILL! I WILL!” Standing in front of the desk where Alice Paul wrote the ERA, it was as if she showed me her vision and asked me to carry on her work to see that women are explicitly included in the US Constitution. I get this. I get that most people believe it passed. I get that people are not aware that women make 78 cents on the dollar (White women). I get that African American women make 69 cents on the dollar and Latinas, 59 cents. I get that since there is no federal ERA, there are inconsistent state laws and widespread confusion. Twenty-two states have an equal protection law; twenty-eight do not. Studies show us that women do not use the limited protections that are in place as men do not hesitate to use them.
As we have watched the citizens of California misinterpret the purpose of their state constitution to extend their fears and legitimize marginalization, we must make it clear that the US Constitution, created through the state leaders votes is meant to protect minorities. This is how human rights advance. It is time to commit to simply pay women the same as men for the same work; it is time to make certain, on a national level, that men and women have equality under the law; it is time for women to join men of all races in the US Constitution.
Here is the great good news, this is within our reach. Be it the 3 state strategy or the 38 state strategy, women have never stopped working to get the ERA. The Third Wave, where I proudly work today, is just getting the news out and, faced with unparalleled debt, realizing their certain need for the ERA. While this movement is taking a long time, it has never lost heart. The men and women working for equality will never stop until it is in the US Constitution. The ERA & CEDAW are on the horizon. Alice Paul will be there. I will be there. We will all be there.
SUMMARY
Writing
Books
The Hungry Heart ~ A Woman’s Fast for Justice
The Passionate Heart
Matri ~ Letters from the Mother
Contributor to Feminists who Changed America 1963 – 1975
Edited or wrote over 120 biographies of Second Wave veteran feminists.
Education
B.A. Theology Quincy University, Quincy, Illinois, 1969
M.A. Ethics, University of Southern California, 1975
Computer Programmer Certification, Computer Learning Center, Somerville, MA, 1985
