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Equal Rights Amendment Pros And Cons

Decent Essays

The influential Phyllis Schlafly used her platform against the Equal Rights Amendment to emphasize that the possibility of having equal rights between men and women would be “destructive and antifamily”. Schlafly found the amendment to be disturbing when the ERA gained a strong support system for its adoption; nevertheless, she started the STOP ERA movement in order to stress the importance of having a traditional family in America. The primary purpose of the amendment was to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender in the United States (S&L 103). The support of this amendment was because women felt that they were being institutionally discriminated by the patriarchal dominance. The idea that women who were wives and mothers had to be supported by their husbands and work exclusively in their home was played out. Many women wanted to …show more content…

In Schlafly’s interview with Washington Star, she stated that the ERA would take away our laws that are entitled to reflect the natural differences and the role assigned by God (S&L 105). These “laws” that she is referring to is the sanctity of the husband supporting his wife and family, praising God, and husbands paying alimony to wives. If the ERA was passed, the woman would have to support the family and pay for the same things men would pay, which should not happen; it is deemed unconstitutional and disorderly in terms of tradition and the country’s original conservative principles that the man is the provider. It would also challenge the Christian heritage if Americans themselves are losing their faith in God. Christianity is not prohibited in many public places, but it would be against the First Amendment to pass a law that could potentially prohibit the exercise of the Christian faith in households and in America, which would be

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