Former Colorado Congresswoman, Pat Schroeder this past Sunday spoke at the St. Petersburg campus of the University of South Florida at the First Historic Florida Equal Rights Amendment Forum. Schroeder spoke openly to a crowd of more than 200 about the need to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, an issue that dominated at least the first ten years of her twenty four year tenure.

During her speech, Schroeder expressed frustration that now, thirty years after passage and aside from the right to cast a vote, women are still absent from the language of the US constitution. From Tampa, WMNF's Beth Wolfe reports.