TEXAS SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY

So some things remain the same and some things change. Between voter approval of the Texas EqualRights Amendment and today, there have been so many remarkable changes in women’s rights. When I becamethe first woman president of the Houston Bar Association in 1992, my election was literally front page news in theHouston Post. Now, women bar presidents merit hardly a note because of their gender. That fact was in evidencerecently when I moderated a panel of female national bar presidents for the 2015 Women’s Power Summit on Law& Leadership sponsored by the UT Center for Women in the Law. The all-female panel consisted of the presidentelectof the American Bar Association and the presidents of the National Bar Association, National Asia PacificAmerican Bar Association, National Native American Bar Association, and Hispanic National Bar Association.The composition of the panel is only one of almost daily reminders I have of the de facto equal rights Ienjoy, even though the national Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified. But there are also reminders that thebathroom issue is not the only one blocking the road to equality. More often than not, I find that the only otherwoman in the courtroom in a big case is the judge. The number of women litigators is dismal. The reasons for thisdisparity, unlike the Equal Rights Amendment, are complex.But, with the benefit of many years since the Equal Rights Amendment breached my consciousness, myreaction to it is not so much legal as it is one that resides in my heart. The national Equal Rights Amendment reads:“Equality of rights under the law should not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on accountof sex.” In my heart, I cannot believe that our great country—like our great state—should settle for anything less.LYNNE LIBERATO is a partner in the Appellate Section of the Houston office of Haynes andBoone, LLP.Return to Journal Index19