That is what the Equal Rights Amendment was called time after time when it was bandied about in the last throes of efforts during the early 1980's. Because the three-year extension ended without the required 38 states ratifying that amendment, it failed and was thought to have receded into oblivion.

Oddly an amendment that had not been ratified by the required states -- an amendment that prevented a seated congress from increasing its salaries -- finally received the necessary ratifications after hundred years to become the 27th amendment.

Now it is apparent that there is no such thing as a specified number of years for an amendment to become ratified. There was no precedent in the first place for a limitation of seven years to have been placed on the Equal Rights Amendment, let alone a limited three-year extension.

So now we need three more states to ratify, even if it takes a hundred years. But back to the women's issue of equality -- or equal justice under law. Let us look at the United States Supreme Court building in our nation's capitol.

The very words as you can see on the illustration, if you've never seen or can't look at the real thing, is "equal justice under law." It's about time the lawyers and judges and courts of law have the teeth of the constitution to make those four words a reality for the women of the United States of America.

At every turn when women sought justice, whether in voting, land ownership, or rights under law, the precedents cited were those that gave men power and control over women. After all, our laws were based on English common law and women were property. Let's get with other countries of the western world and give women equal rights.