On January 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States, women across the country and around the world took to the streets in protest. An estimated 3.3 – 4.6 million people marched in the United States and nearly 5 million marched worldwide, all equally alarmed by Trump’s misogynistic rhetoric and policy positions. They realized the threat he posed to women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, human rights, and more.
Kristine Kay Maita was one of those women, and along with some friends, she took her message to the next level. She made a quilt proclaiming, “Women’s Rights are Human Rights,” and she and her friends carried it at the Women’s March in Lake Tahoe. From there Kris continued to make quilts, and she and her friends marched through the streets of Lake Tahoe and then Reno in the years that followed. The final quilt she made before COVID shut most marches down called for the ERA to be enacted with the slogan, “ERA Now.”
This call to action continues to resonate. Ms. Magazine reported earlier this year, “The ERA is wildly popular: 83 percent of Americans believe it should be ratified and incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. Its support is even higher among young people: 90 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds are in favor of the ERA.” However, as the wait to enshrine and publish the ERA in the Constitution continues, a number of organizations persist in urging Congress to affirm the ERA and remove the arbitrary time limit set for ratification when it passed the ERA in 1972.
In October 2023, Dr. Nancy O’Reilly attended the Arabian Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, preparing to head to Washington DC, when, by chance, she met Kristine and struck up a conversation. Dr. Nancy told Kris of her excitement about partnering and connecting with the ERA Coalition, through Women Connect4Good, and about the march she was on her way to attend. Kris had long hoped that her quilts would make it to the Capital, and gifted Dr. Nancy with the “ERA Now” quilt.
The quilt not only took center stage at the ERA Coalition Convening at Vital Voices on November 3, Dr. Nancy and her friend, Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead, carried it in a parade on November 4.
The ERA quilt made another DC appearance on December 13, 2023 – a date that marked 100 years of the ERA. The ERA Coalition and Fund for Women’s Equality led a number of organizations, women and men, from Lafayette Park to the White House, then to the Department of Justice, onward to the US Archives, and finally to the Capital. The “ERA Now” quilt was carried by Dr. Nancy and her friend, interdisciplinary artist, activist, filmmaker, and founder of the Webby Awards, Tiffany Shlain.
Once the walk concluded, Dr. Nancy, with friends and fellow supporters, attended the Equal Rights Amendment Congressional Reception at the US Senate, and gave the quilt to the ERA Coalition to become a banner for more walks to come. “At Women Connect4Good, we know that when you connect good people, good things happen – when we connect our partners and friends, we open the door to collaboration, innovation, and momentum,” she said.
“That’s what this is about,” Dr. Nancy added. “As we unite, we engage our superpowers and strengthen our potential to effect meaningful, positive change, and together we make the difference that counts and achieve equality for everyone – without limitation – every single person under the law.”
Kris couldn’t be happier about the donation and said, “I am thrilled. I make these; we use them; we march with them never really knowing what to do when we’re done. I’m delighted it (the quilt) will be in DC and extremely happy that it will be with the ERA Coalition.”
As participants left the day’s events and returned to their homes, hotel rooms, train stations, and airports, they felt secure in the knowledge that, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on the account of sex,” is not just good for some, it is good for all. To learn more about the ERA Coalition, and the important work they are doing go to www.eracoalition.org.