Two Years After is a two-player card game simulating the sociocultural debates and political struggle to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to US Constitution, which would legally establish that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The ERA reads that, upon approval, “This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.” Throughout the game, the two players compete to influence cultural ideas about gender roles, sway women’s groups, political parties, and labor unions in order to push Congress to ratify or stop the Amendment.
The game begins with the initial ERA proposal, which was put forth by the National Woman’s Party in 1921 and subsequently introduced to Congress in 1923 with a language penned by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. Throughout the twentieth century, the ERA was met with controversy: different women’s groups debated and disagreed about whether it would make womens lives better; political support shifted between Democrats and Republicans; and labor unions and national associations actively lobbied for and against the proposal. By 1972, the ERA passed in Congress, with the support of President Nixon. As the Amendment was sent to the different states for ratification, Phyllis Schlafly created the “STOP ERA” campaign, organizing rallies and making multiple media appearances in defense of traditional gender roles. By the 1979 deadline for the states’s ratification of the ERA, the Amendment had not received the necessary state support. Despite deadline extensions, it remains unratified.
In Two Years After, one player defends the Equal Rights Amendment and the other seeks to stop it from ratification. Each round, players draw action and leader cards in six areas of contention to sway the cultural and political aspects of the debate, from philosophical debates about gender roles to congressional discussions and the growing influence of media. The actions a player can take represent ways to gain support through rallies, public debates, political connections, endorsements by labor unions, and seeking the disputed support of women’s and feminist associations. A round-track marker brings attention (and bonuses) to issues that emerged at different points of the century, from the rise in women labor during WWII to the fears of women conscription during the Vietnam War.
—description from the designer
Card Game, Educational, Political · Hand Management, Simulation, Tug of War
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