Meet Phyllis Schlafly, the Woman Who Rallied Other Women Against...the Equal Rights Amendment?!
In 1920, women won the right to vote. Over 50 (50!) years later, with passing of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, women were finally allowed to take out credit cards in their own names, without having their husbands co-sign on the application. It wasn’t until many years later-as in, six years ago-that women were permitted to serve on the front lines of our country’s military.
And yet, women are still not protected by our Constitution in the same way that men are. Yes, you read that right. Our founding document, which established a country based on the idea that we are all equal, stops short. It does not explicitly name the equality of men and women as a protection integral to the health of our democracy. And in a time when fundamental women’s rights have been called into question, we sure could use the constitutional call-out, no?
Enter, the Equal Rights Amendment.
A quick refresher: It was only in 1972 that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a nearly 100-year-old legislation that advocates for constitutionally protected gender equality was passed by both houses of Congress. However, it was required that the amendment be ratified in 38 states over the course of ten years if it were to be added to the Constitution of the United States. One year later, 30 states had signed on. But enthusiasm slowed, and the amendment would only be ratified by five more states before the deadline-three short of being signed into law.
(Oh, BTW, I recently worked on an MSNBC special documentary about the ERA titled This Happened: On Account of Sex, which airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET!)
The person responsible for this crushing loss? Phyllis Schlafly.
Phyllis? This had to be a typo-was the script supposed to read Phillip? No, the MSNBC producers insisted. But why wouldn’t all women want equal status, and access to all of the same privileges as their male peers?
It was, in fact, a woman who successfully organized and mobilized the opposition to the ERA that led to its eventual defeat. Phyllis Schlafly was a Midwestern American housewife-eventually turned lawyer-and one of the strongest voices to oppose the feminist movement.
Nicknamed the “first lady of the conservative movement,” Schlafly actually ran for Congress in 1952, campaigning as a staunchly anti-communist “average housewife.” Though she lost her election, the Illinois homemaker continued to weigh in on politics through her writing. She published multiple pamphlets and books before shifting her attention to the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.
Schlafly, who called the ERA “an attack on the rights of the wife” rose to national prominence by leading the STOP ERA campaign. Her “reasoning”? Well,
an America with an equal rights amendment would mean an America where husbands didn’t support their wives;
men would no longer protect women;
and the threat the amendment posed to women’s privacy, specifically in public restrooms?!
Schlafly used a very powerful image to appeal to fellow conservatives and likeminded housewives: the traditional American family. She told her supporters that their right to “be in the home as a wife and mother” was at stake. And if you were any of those things, you certainly couldn’t be a feminist, too.
Schlafly’s ideas made sense to me: why would someone support a movement they felt was leaving them, and their way of life, behind? It hit especially close to home because it embodies my own mother’s beliefs. As the matriarch of our family and an opinionated, strong woman, my mom is never afraid to speak her mind. She raised two daughters to do the same, always encouraging us to pursue professional careers and build families all at the same time.
My mom emphasized the importance of financial independence: never rely on the man you sleep next to for money, she told me and my sister.
Sounds progressive, right? For a woman born in a generation loyal to the American nuclear family, maybe it is. But even so, my mother would never join a women’s march, or wear a shirt that said “I’m with Her.” She would never call herself a feminist. She sees feminism as a threat to the tradition of family and marriage-the same practices Phyllis Schlafly devoted herself to protecting.
My mom’s respect for these nostalgic American fixtures far outweighs her allegiance to any sense of sisterhood she may-or may not-feel. In her mind, feminism is more about pink pussy hats and “nasty women” than it is about equality.
But today, we have an opportunity to learn from our mistakes; to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself.
Women stood in each other’s way in the 1970s because American housewives believed feminism was directly at odds with their way of life. They believed the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment was synonymous with the end of traditional motherhood and family.
But equality is not about changing the status quo. It is about expanding it. Our little girls don’t have to aspire to be the next generation of CEOs and world leaders-but we should certainly give them the choice.
The passage of the ERA would help do just that. It would offer further protection for women in myriad ways, especially as the Supreme Court leans more and more toward the right. Many of the cases argued in the Court concern issues of discrimination.
Though there are many pieces of legislation that protect women from discrimination-such as Title IX or the Equal Pay Act-these are repealable.
The Notorious RBG put it best:
“I would like my granddaughters, when they pick up the Constitution, to see that notion-that women and men are persons of equal stature-I’d like them to see that is a basic principle of our society.”
You can’t argue with RBG.
The female experience looks, sounds and feels a lot different to every woman. But you can’t spell women without we. The women’s movement is energized. It is loud. These are great things. It is essential that we understand the challenges and hear the voices of women everywhere-in the home and in the workplace alike.
Someone recently told me, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” We’ve come a long way. We have much further to go. But we can only get there if we go together.
('You Might Also Like',)
