You may have heard the news last week that Virginia became the 38th state to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, or ERA. That’s a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would guarantee equal rights for all Americans, regardless of sex. 

On Today's 21st: Virginia became the 38th state to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, or ERA, last week. Before that, Illinois ratified the proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees equal rights regardless of sex. We unpacked what that means. 

As we get ready to welcome 2019, we thought we’d take a few minutes to listen back to the past year in Illinois government and politics.

In 1981, dozens of women descended upon the Illinois state Capitol with bread and other baked treats for legislators. On the annual “Stop-ERA Bread Day,” their message: Men who approve the Equal Rights Amendment can no longer count on their wives to tend to hearth and home.

The proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passed Congress in the 1970s. On Wednesday, Illinois made news by ratifying it — 46 years later.