Women\'s History Phyllis Schlafly Wrote

Women's History

Phyllis Schlafly wrote "What's Wrong with Equal Rights for Women" as a call to women to maintain the status quo. Her point is that women are already privileged beings in this country, and that it is foolhardy to lose that status, simply because a group of radical women wants equal pay and opportunities. She is resentful that the women's movement tries to speak for all American women, and disagrees with the opinion that women should be treated as equal to men. She feels that to portray women as downtrodden is fraudulent.

The piece supports the traditional role of the female, who was expected in the past to only raise children, keep the house clean and have a meal ready for her husband when he returns from work. Women did not need an education, nor did they need to take responsibility for politics or military problems of the country. Further, their intrusion into these areas was unwelcome.

This article clearly reflects a division among women in the United States.

There was a powerful force of women from every walk of life who wanted to pass the equal rights amendment, and they were not all "aggressive" radicals, but often educated thinkers.

Schlafly's article sounds as though it was written out of a fear of losing a lifestyle that she values.

She does not feel that women belong on the front lines in times of war and further, that women who want this kind of equality must have something wrong with their thinking.

Women up until that time were "always" given custody of the children except in extreme circumstances, and men were always obligated to financially support the family, including extended support in the case of divorce. Schlafly does not want to lose that privilege, and does not think women should have to pay support to men on equal terms.

I think the larger community, especially today, would see this as an attempt to avoid taking responsibility, and to use her sex as an excuse.

Between 1865 and 1900, women were entirely dependent upon men for everything from financial support to political decision making.

Women had not had the right to own property and were not allowed to vote. There was no reliable means of contraception, and women bore many more children than they may have wanted.

Women were little more than chattel in terms of the law, and men were legally allowed in some areas to abuse their wives with no repercussions. Women were not allowed to serve on a jury, therefore, no woman could be tried before a jury of her peers. Women were not considered citizens and had no representation in lawmaking.

As the industrial revolution spread, many women joined the progressive movement and more women began to work outside the home.

People began to migrate to the cities and women began to work as domestics, on farms, and in factories, some becoming involved in the labor movement. In 1860 Clara Brown led the strike against the Linn Shoe factory, demanding better wages for women. Many women took up the cause of temperance. Women like Jane Adams, worked to expose political corruption and economic exploitation and established philanthropic programs for the poor.

By 1900 over one-third of the wage-earning women in this country were employed as domestics or waitresses." As business grew, the privileged class grew. Domestics were in demand and were expected to do every kind of household chore in addition to cooking, serving, laundry, sewing, and anything else required by her mistress.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in 1865 joined in their work to equalize the rights of men and women. They declared that women had a natural right to happiness, and the opportunities and advantages, and denied that women were made simply for men and that her best interests must be "sacrificed to his will" (Kerber, pg. 225).

In 1923, a feminist conference in Seneca Falls, New York developed a constitutional amendment called the "Declaration of Sentiments," that was considered a declaration of independence of American women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was instrumental in its development and introduced it into Congress in 1923. The National Women's Party, the League of women Voters and the Women's Trade Union League were all feminist-based political organizations that formed the basis of the feminist movement. Other women who contributed to the cause for women's rights were Margaret Sanger, who in 1916 opened a birth control clinic in New York, and offered education on contraception, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

In the 1920s women were divided over their support of the Equal Rights Amendment and the issue eventually faded into the background because of the deep divisions it created among different groups of women. The issue arose again in the 1960s.