After nearly six years working as the primary content creator for Lift IOWA, I feel confident saying there are not many topics relating to women of which I’m not aware. However, I came across an exception in the last couple of weeks when three words began appearing in headlines across the country — Equal Rights Amendment.

This one slid right by me. I’m sorry, but wasn’t this something taken care of a long time ago?

Well, sort of.

Last week, Virginia made headlines when it became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, marking the minimum number of states needed for the resolution to be enacted in the U.S. Constitution.

Here’s the catch, though — the deadline for states to ratify the amendment was nearly 30 years ago.

Here’s a little history about the Equal Rights Amendment: The amendment to the United States Constitution was originally proposed in 1923, but it wasn’t passed by Congress until 1972. It is designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex, and it seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment and other matters.

The original deadline for states to ratify the amendment was seven years after its passing, and the deadline eventually was extended to 1982, but by that time, only 35 states had ratified it. Three years ago, Nevada ratified the amendment, followed by Illinois the next year.

With Virginia’s recent ratification, the Equal Rights Amendment would provide women across the country with more protections and could be used to help set new laws concerning areas such as equal pay and gender discrimination.

But, like many things concerning women and their rights, procedural hurdles are likely on the horizon. The question remains whether states were required to ratify the amendment by the 1982 deadline. The easiest argument against the deadline is that Congress already extended the deadline once, so Congress can now remove the deadline. And, according to Kate Kelly, an attorney for Equality Now, there are two bills already pending in the current Congress to remove that deadline.

But we’ll have to see as other experts argue that the fate of the Equal Rights Amendment is far from decided and will likely be tied up in the courts and in the political sphere for years.