Jennifer MacLeod

Jennifer is the founder of the ERA Campaign Network.  

 It was 2000, 212 years after the Constitution was ratified when Jennifer, a retired executive, gave a presentation to a group of Girl Scouts on the Equal Rights Amendment. The excited girls asked if Dr. Macleod could help them do a project on the ERA.   

Women were still excluded from  their full rights full rights under the Constitution.

Jennifer, an expert in survey research, prepared a simple poll and showed the girls how to conduct it. Later, Macleod would admit that she expected the poll would reflect mixed opinions to the idea of equality for women. She was wrong. 

Jennifer expected the Girl Scouts, polling their classmates, teachers, and parents, to find a range of opinions on equality for women. Instead, they found close to unanimous support for the idea that all of us are born possessed of inherent rights, as recognized in the Declaration of Independence. 

Dumbfounded, Jennifer Macleod arranged for a national survey professionally conducted in July 2001, among American adults all across the country. 

The findings? 96% answered "yes" to the question, "In your opinion, should male and female citizens of the United States have equal rights?"; 88% answered "yes" to the question.

 "In your opinion, should the Constitution make it clear that male and female citizens are supposed to have equal rights?"; and, demonstrating a public lack of knowledge, 72% mistakenly answered "yes" to the question. 

"As far as you know, does the Constitution of the United States make it clear that male and female citizens are supposed to have equal rights?" The results were similar for both men and women, and in all age groups, educational levels, regions of the country, racial categories, and household composition. 

 While the legislatures of 15 states had refused to ratify the ERA Americans had done so in their hearts and minds.