Virginia just became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. On the face of it, the ERA seems straightforward: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex."

Proponents want the ERA because of continuing sex inequality in our society. Lower pay, sexual harassment, violence against women. These are serious social problems that have been around for a long time.

But the ERA may not be the tool to solve them. So says our guest this week, UVA Law professor Kim Forde-Mazrui. He shares the overall goals of real equality for women, but he’s concerned that federal judges would hand down decisions that would actually harm the cause of equality for women.

Bold Dominion is online at BoldDominion.org. It's a member of the Virginia Audio Collective, VirginiaAudio.org.