Quiz for American Voices:
Debating the Equal Rights Amendment

Question

1. What does Phyllis Schlafly believe is a fundamental right of all women?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Phyllis Schlafly’s remarks suggest that a woman’s natural role is to be a wife and a mother. She believes that women have the fundamental right to financial support and protection by men to guarantee that they can fulfill that natural role.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Phyllis Schlafly’s remarks suggest that a woman’s natural role is to be a wife and a mother. She believes that women have the fundamental right to financial support and protection by men to guarantee that they can fulfill that natural role.

Question

2. According to Phyllis Schlafly, why did feminists support the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. Schlafly said that “women’s liberationists” supported the ERA because “They hate men, marriage, and children. They are out to destroy morality and the family.”
Incorrect. The answer is a. Schlafly said that “women’s liberationists” supported the ERA because “They hate men, marriage, and children. They are out to destroy morality and the family.”

Question

3. Which of the following statements represents Jerry Falwell’s perspective on women’s status?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Jerry Falwell argued that “God Almighty created men and women biologically different and with differing needs and roles.” He believed that although they were fundamentally different, men and women were also complementary and that “Women who work should be respected and accorded dignity and equal rewards for equal work.”
Incorrect. The answer is c. Jerry Falwell argued that “God Almighty created men and women biologically different and with differing needs and roles.” He believed that although they were fundamentally different, men and women were also complementary and that “Women who work should be respected and accorded dignity and equal rewards for equal work.”

Question

4. Falwell suggested that women who supported the ERA did so for which of the following reasons?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. Falwell suggested that women who supported the ERA did so because they were bored with life and had never accepted their God-given roles as wives and mothers in Christian families.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Falwell suggested that women who supported the ERA did so because they were bored with life and had never accepted their God-given roles as wives and mothers in Christian families.

Question

5. When Elizabeth Duncan Koontz remarked in 1977 that women “have mistaken present practice for law” and “assumed too many times that their present condition cannot change,” she was referring to what?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. Elizabeth Koontz was pointing out that women could not, in fact, rely on male breadwinners for economic support because of the increasing rates of divorce, desertion, and separation. She believed it was important to remove the legal barriers that prevented girls and women from making the choice to embrace economic independence whether or not they could rely on men for economic support.
Incorrect. The answer is d. Elizabeth Koontz was pointing out that women could not, in fact, rely on male breadwinners for economic support because of the increasing rates of divorce, desertion, and separation. She believed it was important to remove the legal barriers that prevented girls and women from making the choice to embrace economic independence whether or not they could rely on men for economic support.

Question

6. By embracing the ERA as an immediate and effective federal remedy against sex discrimination in federal and state laws, Caroline Bird was adopting a strategy pioneered by which of the following women’s organizations of the 1910s?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. NAWSA had long pursued woman suffrage on a state-by-state basis. Inspired by the more militant British suffrage movement, Alice Paul founded the National Woman’s Party in 1916 to advocate a national constitutional amendment to achieve woman suffrage in the United States. The National Woman’s Party had first introduced the ERA to Congress in 1923, and Bird and other feminists continued to pursue their strategy to achieve equal rights for women in the 1970s.
Incorrect. The answer is b. NAWSA had long pursued woman suffrage on a state-by-state basis. Inspired by the more militant British suffrage movement, Alice Paul founded the National Woman’s Party in 1916 to advocate a national constitutional amendment to achieve woman suffrage in the United States. The National Woman’s Party had first introduced the ERA to Congress in 1923, and Bird and other feminists were continued to pursue their strategy to achieve equal rights for women in the 1970s.