A rally and press conference was held on Tuesday afternoon April 10th at the Daley Center in downtown Chicago to call attention to the fact that the state of Illinois is one of fourteen states yet to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.

The Equal Rights Amendment states that: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex". The E.R.A, would provide legal protection for women in various ways including gender-based violence, equal pay, and pregnancy discrimination.

70% of America's poor are women. This also affects the children who depend on them.

Women make up roughly half the workforce and constitute two-thirds of minimum wage workers.

Women earn 79 and 44% of what men make adjusted for their race. The latter figure applies more to blacks and Hispanics.

Women are twice as likely to retire in poverty as men.

Passing the E.R.A. would ensure that employers could not give women less pay for doing the same work as a man.