A panel discussing the proposed amendment to add women to the Iowa constitution was held Wednesday afternoon.

Convening in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union, the three speakers on the panel felt confident that the so-called “ERA amendment” would pass this year after two failed attempts.

The first speaker was Karen Thomsen, the official spokeswoman for the Add Women Campaign in Iowa. Thomsen briefly outlined the history of the 1998 campaign and also spoke about previous attempts to add women’s rights to the state constitution in 1989 and 1992.

“It is really a simple amendment,” Thomsen said. “It’s just adding the two words ‘and women’ after men in Article One of the Iowa Constitution.”

Thomsen said the fund raising for the campaign efforts was going well so far. The group had been selling T-shirts and buttons to support its campaign efforts, as well as collecting donations.

Although Thomsen described the campaign as “grass roots and low cost,” she did say that nearly $10,000 had already been raised.

Thomsen also explained exactly what the campaign was targeting in its efforts to get the amendment ratified.

“Our main goal has been to inform the public of the issue and to explain exactly where on the ballot the amendment can be found,” she said. “The question of the amendment is on the back of the ballot, so we felt that some people may not see it.”

Thomsen gave her predictions on the outcome of the vote and why she feels the citizens of Iowa will vote differently than they did in the previous to attempts to pass the amendment.

“Most reasonable people will vote ‘yes’ for the amendment,” she said. “Similar states haven’t suffered from having women in their constitutions, and I think people realize that Iowa won’t either.”

The second speaker was Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, who was a county coordinator for the ERA campaign in 1992.

Wessel-Kroeschell gave background on the previous attempts at getting the amendment passed in 1989 and 1992.

She pointed out the difference between this year and the previous years, saying this time the proposed amendment is simpler. It calls only for adding the two words, “and women,” whereas the other two amendments also called for the addition of a second sentence outlining exactly what rights should be extended to women.

“The difference between 1992, 1989 and this year is definitely that second sentence,” Wessel-Kroeschell said. “People interpreted that second sentence as something more than it was. Many people thought that it would require the state to legalize same-sex marriages and bathrooms and bring about guaranteed legalized abortions.”

She said this year the passage of the amendment looks much more certain.

“It’s exciting to see no opposition this time, and I am confident the amendment will pass,” Wessel-Kroeschell said. “People realize it won’t make any major changes in our lifestyle; it will just give women constitutional protection.”

Wessel-Kroeschell pointed out that although women do have legislative protection, law can be changed much more easily than the constitution.

The third speaker was Alissa Stoehr, a campus leader in the ERA movement and coordinator of Women’s Week 1998. She spoke about the efforts on the ISU campus to get the amendment passed.

“We’ve been concentrating on reminding people to vote and educating them on the actual ballots,” said Stoehr, senior in liberal studies.

“We’ve also been running some print ads to get the word out about the vote,” she said.

Stoehr also said a petition is circulating in support of the amendment.

After the three speakers, there was a question-and-answer time for the sparse crowd to ask questions of the panelists.

This panel was part of the 1998 Women’s Week celebration, which will be keynoted by Gloria Steinem in a speech Tuesday, Oct. 13 at CY Stephens Auditorium.