I support adding the proposed amendment to the Maine Constitution for equal rights for women. It is long past time for this amendment to be added to the U.S. Constitution, where it also belongs, but it is not too late to add it to our state constitution. It saddens me that anyone, and especially any women, oppose this amendment and its purpose.

For centuries, women were treated as chattel, property of their husbands if they were married, or of their fathers if they were unmarried. Women essentially had no individual rights, solely because of their gender.

In the United States, women were not allowed the right to vote until 1920, 100 years after Maine achieved statehood. This right was granted (by men) only after long and vigorous protesting in the streets by the suffragettes. Women were not granted the right to have their own credit rating or a personal checking account until the 1970s. Even today there is documentation demonstrating that they do not receive the same pay as men in some industries for doing the same jobs.

The amendment would be a clear and easily understood addition to the Constitution and is truly needed to correct an inequity in the Constitution. It is unfortunate that we even have to have such an amendment to secure the same rights for women that men enjoy and expect as their privilege. I do not believe there would realistically be any unintended consequences to ratification.

Warner Price
Harpswell