Two events next week in Richmond will raise the banner for equity, justice and empowerment for women, including a rally at the State Capitol on the opening day of the 2019 General Assembly session and a women’s march and expo next weekend.

As the General Assembly reconvenes Wednesday, Jan. 9, a group called VAratifyERA is hoping to gather hundreds of women on the grounds of the State Capitol in front of a banner urging state legislators to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

The Welcome Back Party, as the event is billed, is to take place between 10:45 and 11:45 a.m. outside the legislature’s temporary offices in the Pocahontas Building on Capitol Square, it has been announced.

The purpose is to bring recognition to the renewed effort to make Virginia the 38th state to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would give women equal legal status with men.

The deadline for states to ratify the amendment expired at least 36 years ago, so it is unclear whether Virginia’s passage would revive the proposed 28th Amendment.

But that is not stopping advocates from pressing state delegates and senators to show at least symbolic support for the amendment.

Details: VAratifyERA.org

Next weekend is the Women’s March RVA-Expo from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center, 3001 N. Boulevard.

The event is sponsored by a coalition of 40 organizations ranging from the NAACP and Girls Like Me to Planned Parenthood, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Virginia Educators United.

The event kicks off at 9 a.m. with a 2-mile walk along the Boulevard from the Ashe Center to Broad Street and back, followed by the opening at 10 a.m. of the expo. Free to the public, the expo will feature speakers and organizations, music, a silent auction and a section to create signs for people planning to attend the second national Women’s March in Washington on Saturday, Jan. 19.

Details: www.womensmarchrva.org.