30. America Moves to the Right, 1969

Quiz for Making Historical Arguments: Why Did the ERA Fail?

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question 30.6

1. Although the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) had strong popular support when it passed both the House and the Senate in 1972, it failed to become a constitutional amendment because

the president vetoed the amendment.

the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional.

not enough states ratified the amendment.

the voters overturned it in 1976.

Question 30.7

2. What was the central reason why conservatives opposed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the 1970s?

They believed that the amendment was actually an unconstitutional expansion of the power of state governments.

Conservative men were threatened by the notion that women could begin challenging them in business and politics.

Republican politicians argued that the ERA would damage the United States' relationships with countries in the Middle East.

They argued that it would upend traditional gender roles in which men were in charge of taking care of women.

Question 30.8

3. How did anti-ERA activists like Phyllis Schlafly convince some American women that unequal rights were actually beneficial to women?

They drew on a sense of patriotism and nostalgia for the past (heightened by the Bicentennial of 1976) by describing the wonderful—yet unequal—world of the Founding Fathers.

They pointed to scientific studies that proved women were biologically weaker than men, and suggested that women’s inequality protected them from overexerting themselves.

They argued that women should retain their special privileges, such as not being drafted, receiving alimony payments, and having access to all-female restrooms.

They reanimated the nineteenth-century idea of separate spheres: men were best-suited to public matters, while women were best-suited to private matters, like the family.

Question 30.9

4. Why was it difficult for supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to argue that the amendment was urgently needed in the 1970s?

A recent government-funded study had shown significant popular support for a female president, which undermined their claims that sex discrimination was rampant.

The feminist movement had made so many gains in eliminating sex discrimination in areas like employment and education that the ERA did not necessarily seem essential.

Many Americans strongly believed that the Fourteenth Amendment’s assertion of “equal protection of the laws” was sufficient to prevent sex discrimination against women.

Phyllis Schlafly successfully convinced many Americans that Billie Jean King’s 1973 victory in the “Battle of the Sexes” demonstrated that women were doing just fine.

Question 30.10

5. Even though the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) failed to become part of the Constitution, what effect did the battle over the ERA have on the American feminist movement?

Many women were energized by the fight for the ERA, and became involved in politics or advocacy for the first time.

Phyllis Schlafly’s successful campaign against the ERA actually “converted” some feminists to conservatism.

Many feminists became convinced that legislative solutions would never succeed, and shifted their focus to other tactics.