Chapter Chronology

Quiz for Historical Question: “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

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

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. According to the Constitution, in order for a proposed amendment to be added to the constitution, it must be approved by both houses of Congress and then ratified by three-quarters of the state legislatures. A few amendments proposed decades ago are still pending sufficient state ratification, but the ERA was given a time limit for ratification: 1982. That deadline passed without the requisite three-quarters of the states, and so the ERA failed.
Incorrect. The answer is c. According to the Constitution, in order for a proposed amendment to be added to the constitution, it must be approved by both houses of Congress and then ratified by three-quarters of the state legislatures. A few amendments proposed decades ago are still pending sufficient state ratification, but the ERA was given a time limit for ratification: 1982. That deadline passed without the requisite three-quarters of the states, and so the ERA failed.

Question

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

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. Conservative men and women alike believed that the ERA was an affront to traditional gender roles, in which men protected and supported women, and husbands were in charge of their wives. Making men and women equal would upset these roles, which, conservatives argued, were natural, traditional, and God-given.
Incorrect. The answer is d. Conservative men and women alike believed that the ERA was an affront to traditional gender roles, in which men protected and supported women, and husbands were in charge of their wives. Making men and women equal would upset these roles, which, conservatives argued, were natural, traditional, and God-given.

Question

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

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Phyllis Schlafly started a national movement to oppose the ERA, and the name of this movement illustrates her central argument against the amendment: it was called STOP, which stood for Stop Taking Our Privileges. Schlafly and her allies argued that it was beneficial for women to be unequal to men because that gave them special privileges, such as not being drafted. The ERA, she argued, would take all of those privileges away.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Phyllis Schlafly started a national movement to oppose the ERA, and the name of this movement illustrates her central argument against the amendment: it was called STOP, which stood for Stop Taking Our Privileges. Schlafly and her allies argued that it was beneficial for women to be unequal to men because that gave them special privileges, such as not being drafted. The ERA, she argued, would take all of those privileges away.

Question

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.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. In a cruel twist of fate, the gains that the feminist movement had made in the 1960s and 1970s ultimately worked against them as they tried to pass the ERA. Since Congress had already banned sex discrimination in areas like work and school, and the Supreme Court has already struck down sex discrimination laws, it was difficult for ERA supporters to convince many Americans that a constitutional amendment was still necessary.
Incorrect. The answer is b. In a cruel twist of fate, the gains that the feminist movement had made in the 1960s and 1970s ultimately worked against them as they tried to pass the ERA. Since Congress had already banned sex discrimination in areas like work and school, and the Supreme Court has already struck down sex discrimination laws, it was difficult for ERA supporters to convince many Americans that a constitutional amendment was still necessary.

Question

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?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. The failure of the ERA was not entirely bad for feminists because, in the process, many women became mobilized around feminist issues for the very first time. Thousands of women began participating in advocacy and politics, and this had a lasting effect on women’s struggles into the twenty-first century.
Incorrect. The answer is a. The failure of the ERA was not entirely bad for feminists, because in the process, many women became mobilized around feminist issues for the very first time. Thousands of women began participating in advocacy and politics, and this had a lasting effect on women’s struggles into the twenty-first century.