Illinois Lt Gov Juliana Stratton told a U.S. Senate committee Thursday morning it’s past time to enact the Equal Rights Amendment.

“We need a firm foundation for equality that is long overdue,” said Stratton, noting Black women make 64 cents for a white man’s dollar. “Finishing this work is as important as ever. Acknowledging the rights that women – who make up over half the population – so deserve.

“Consider your mothers. Your daughters. And the women of your districts,” admonished Stratton. “It’s time to make real a vision 100 years in the making, so that our daughters, our granddaughters, and the next generation of women are seen as exactly who they are: equal.”

It’s no coincidence Stratton was a witness to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The chairman is fellow Illinoisan Dick Durbin, who has long campaigned for ERA.