She Derailed the Fight for Equal Rights for Women

May 26, 2018
(13 min.)
Has lesson plan

Even in the #MeToo era, many people don’t know that the Equal Rights Amendment never passed…because of one woman. Her name is Phyllis Schlafly.

Phyllis Schlafly honed her political skills in the conservative movement of the 1950s and 1960s, then put them to work to stop the ERA. She traveled the country decrying the proposed amendment, which sought to ensure equal rights for women under law, as “anti-family” and un-American.

In the process, she built a coalition of evangelical Christians and political conservatives that influenced the modern conservative movement.

Schlafly helped send the ERA down in defeat in 1982, but the battle for equal rights continued. Since then, many of the goals the ERA aimed for have been achieved by other means. And the predictions Schlafly made about what would happen if the amendment succeeded – from women serving in the military to gay rights – have also come to pass.​

Related:

Phyllis Schlafly’s Lasting Legacy in Defeating the E.R.A. by Clyde Haberman

For teachers
  • Director: Kathleen Hughes
  • Editor: Kristen Huntley
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For Educators

Subjects
Civics and Government U.S. History
Topics
1970s Civil Rights  Congress Feminism Political Parties Politics Postwar Era Women's History
Introduction

The debate over the Equal Rights Amendment revolves around the proposed Constitutional amendment designed to guarantee equal rights regardless of sex. Although it was initially introduced in 1923 at the end of the first wave of feminism, the E.R.A. gained national attention during the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Proponents argued that the amendment was necessary to address gender-based discrimination explicitly. Opponents expressed concerns about the impact on traditional gender roles and the ways the amendment could be interpreted. The amendment was passed by Congress in 1972, but it fell short of ratification by the required number of states by the 1982 deadline.

Background reading
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In 1966, the National Organization for Women established that a key goal of the feminist movement was the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed Constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for women. It had been introduced in Congress in 1923, then passed in 1972 with the condition that 38 states had to ratify it for it to become part of the Constitution. Support was bipartisan and ratification seemed like a sure thing, needing only eight more states.

Then came a housewife and mother of six from St. Louis named Phyllis Schlafly. She believed that the amendment would damage the role of women and the American family and had to be stopped. She took her cause on the road to political rallies, TV talk shows and state assemblies, where she plied legislators with fresh bread and pie.

By 1977, she had built a coalition – rooted in evangelical Christians, Catholics and political conservatives – that eventually stopped the E.R.A. three states short of ratification.

That coalition also provided a base for Ronald Reagan’s presidential victory in 1980, and established Schlafly’s reputation among friends and foes as one of the most effective political organizers in modern American history.

Despite Schlafly’s victory against the ERA, many of the causes she railed against – abortion rights, same-sex marriage, women serving in the military – become realities of American life, protected by law. But Schlafly continued to plead her cause, right up until she died at age 92 in 2016.

The ERA has not passed, despite recent attempts to revive it.

Lesson Plan 1: The Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment
Overview
▼

Students will learn about the battle in the 1970s between feminists and a group led by the conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly over the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed Constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for women.

Objectives
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Students will:

  • Assess the arguments and strategies surrounding the Equal Rights Amendment debate during the 1970s.
  • Evaluate what this debate reveals about the different expectations and perspectives women had regarding the role of womanhood in American society.
Essential questions
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  • What were the arguments for and against the Equal Rights Amendment?
  • What strategies were the most effective at defeating the E.R.A.?
  • How did the defeat of the E.R.A. relate to the rise of conservatism in the 1980s?
  • How was the concept of American womanhood being redefined throughout the 1970s?
Additional resources
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Standards
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College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D2.Civ.10.9-12 Analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.
  • D2.Civ.13.9-12 Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences. 
  • D2.Civ.14.9-12 Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
  • D4.1.6-8 Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging the strengths and limitations of the arguments
  • D4.4.6-8 Critique arguments for credibility.
  • D4.4.9-12 Critique the use of claims and evidence in arguments for credibility. 

Common Core Literacy Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data, video, multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.