Marcu Syms Equality Initiative

As the BWLC’s signature advocacy initiative, the reputation of the Marcy Syms Equality Initiative is widely known and exemplary — at the fore of developing innovative, transformative legal and policy strategies in the field of sex-based equality.

Since its founding in 2021 as the ERA Project at Columbia Law School, the Marcy Syms Equality Initiative has established itself as the preeminent source for legal and policy analysis on the finalization of the federal ERA and the mobilization of state ERAs.  

At the BWLC, the Marcy Syms Equality Initiative convenes legal, academic, policy, and advocacy experts—including at the 2026 Dechert Symposium, Constitutional Equality: the ERA and the Promise for Reproductive Rights and Justice—to produce high-quality research, policy papers, expert guidance, and strategic leadership, filling a crucial vacuum for rigorous scholarship and action around key opportunities:

• finalizing the federal ERA and preserving the strongest arguments through legal scholarship, public education, and policy advocacy;
• supporting and strengthening state-based ERA campaigns with tailored legal analysis and strategic guidance;
• leveraging constitutional equality arguments to advance abortion and reproductive justice in the post-Dobbs era; and
• developing a long-term vision for the role of equality amendments in dismantling structural barriers to gender justice.

To learn more, please see our brochure (PDF: 531 KB), or visit the standalone Marcy Syms Equality Initiative website.