Paraphrasing and Summarizing a Political Speech Answers

Read the excerpt from "For the ERA." There are objections raised to wiping out laws protecting women workers. No one would condone exploitation. But what does sex have to do with it?

Read the sentence from "For the ERA."Different ages of majority based on sex would have to be harmonized.

Read the excerpt from "For the ERA." For instance, the Constitution guarantees due process of law, in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. But the applicability of due process to sex distinctions is not clear. Women are excluded from some state colleges and universities. In some states, restrictions are placed on a married woman who engages in an independent business. Women may not be chosen for some juries. Women even receive heavier criminal penalties than men who commit the same crime.

Read the excerpt from "For the ERA."Sex prejudice cuts both ways. Men are oppressed by the requirements of the Selective Service Act, by enforced legal guardianship of minors, and by alimony laws. Each sex, I believe, should be liable when necessary to serve and defend this country. Each has a responsibility for the support of children.

Read the sentence from "For the ERA." Jury service laws not making women equally liable for jury service would have to be revised.

Read the excerpt from "For the ERA."The amendment would be largely self-executing—that is, any federal or state laws in conflict would be ineffective one year after date of ratification without further action by the Congress or state legislatures.

Read the sentence from "For the ERA."The selective service law would have to include women, but women would not be required to serve in the armed forces where they are not fitted, any more than men are required to serve.

Which sentence from "For the ERA" contains a minor detail that should not be included in a summary of Chisholm's ideas?

Read the excerpt from "For the ERA." In any event, there has for years been great controversy as to the usefulness to women of these state labor laws. There has never been any doubt that they worked a hardship on women who need or want to work overtime and on women who need or want better paying jobs, and there has been no persuasive evidence as to how many women benefit from the archaic policy of the laws.

Read the sentence from "For the ERA." Survivorship benefits would be available to husbands of female workers on the same basis as to wives of male workers. Read Jordan's paraphrase. A major advantage of the ERA is that survivorship benefits would be available to the spouses of all workers, regardless of sex.

Read Leo Kanowitz's quotation at the end of "For the ERA.""Rules of law that treat of the sexes per se inevitably produce far-reaching effects upon social, psychological and economic aspects of male-female relations beyond the limited confines of legislative chambers and courtrooms. As long as organized legal systems, at once the most respected and most feared of social institutions, continue to differentiate sharply, in treatment or in words, between men and women on the basis of irrelevant and artificially created distinctions, the likelihood of men and women coming to regard one another primarily as fellow human beings and only secondarily as representatives of another sex will continue to be remote. When men and women are prevented from recognizing one another’s essential humanity by sexual prejudices, nourished by legal as well as social institutions, society as a whole remains less than it could otherwise become.” Read Reese's summary. Laws based on false distinctions between men and women have wide-ranging effects: when legal and social institutions view people primarily as male or female rather than simply as humans, individuals do as well.

Read the excerpt from "For the ERA." Opponents of the amendment claim its ratification would throw the law into a state of confusion and would result in much litigation to establish its meaning. Read Kai's paraphrase. Opponents of the ERA claim it would require ratification and litigation to resolve the confusion as to its true meaning.

Read the excerpt from "For the ERA." As of early 1970 most States would have some laws that would be affected. However, changes are being made so rapidly as a result of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is likely that by the time the equal rights amendment would become effective, no conflicting State laws would remain. Read Frankie's paraphrase. Changes in state laws are happening so quickly, that, despite there being an abundance of laws discriminating against women now, there won't be any once the ERA and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 go into effect.

Read the excerpt from "For the ERA." It is obvious, I think, that a robust woman could be more fit for physical labor than a weak man. The choice of occupation would be determined by individual capabilities, and the rewards for equal work should be equal.

Read the excerpt from "For the ERA." The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1963 Equal Pay Act are not enough; they are limited in their coverage—for instance, one excludes teachers, and the other leaves out administrative and professional women. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has not proven to be an adequate device, with its power limited to investigation, conciliation, and recommendation to the Justice Department. In its cases involving sexual discrimination, it has failed in more than one-half. The Justice Department has been even less effective. It has intervened in only one case involving discrimination on the basis of sex, and this was on a procedural point.