Historical figure · Pearson Edexcel International GCSE revision on Incandio

Phyllis Schlafly

She Beat An Amendment That Had Already Passed · Conservative Campaigner · 1924–2016

The organiser who founded STOP ERA in 1972 — after Congress had already passed the Equal Rights Amendment and twenty-two states had ratified it — and left it three states short when its deadline expired.

Defend these ideas against Schlafly

Incandio is a free revision platform for the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE, and on it a topic counts as mastered only once you have learned it, proved it in questions, taught it back and defended it against the person with the strongest claim on it. Phyllis Schlafly is that person for one topic on the course:

• Friedan, NOW, women's liberation, abortion — and Schlafly — History · A divided union: civil rights in the USA, 1945–74

Who was Schlafly?

Born in St Louis in 1924, Schlafly worked nights testing ammunition to pay for university, took a master's at Radcliffe and, at fifty-four, a law degree. Her 1964 book A Choice Not an Echo sold three million copies and served Barry Goldwater's campaign. In 1972, when the Equal Rights Amendment had passed both houses of Congress and been ratified by twenty-two states, she founded STOP ERA — Stop Taking Our Privileges — and organised state by state, arguing not that women should be unequal but that the amendment would remove protections women already held: exemption from the draft, alimony, separate facilities. When the extended deadline expired on 30 June 1982 the amendment was three states short of ratification.

Major achievements

• Stopped a constitutional amendment that had already passed Congress and been ratified by twenty-two states
• Built a state-level organisation that outmanoeuvred a far better funded national campaign
• Wrote A Choice Not an Echo (1964), which sold three million copies
• Qualified as a lawyer at fifty-four while running a national campaign

Life in brief

• 1924 — Born in St Louis: Works nights testing ammunition to pay for university.
• 1964 — A Choice Not an Echo: Sells three million copies and serves the Goldwater campaign.
• 1972 — Founds STOP ERA: After Congress has passed the amendment and twenty-two states ratified.
• 1978 — Qualifies as a lawyer: At fifty-four, while running the campaign.
• 1982 — The deadline expires: 30 June: the amendment is three states short.
• 2016 — Dies in St Louis: Still writing and organising.

Explore the life of Schlafly — five chapters

1. The Night Shift — Testing ammunition to pay for a degree
2. A Choice Not an Echo — Three million copies, self-published
3. STOP ERA — Thirty-five states, and three short
4. The Argument Against Her — What her opponents said, in their own terms
5. What the Defeat Settled — A movement that lost a symbol and kept its statutes

Read the five-chapter life of Phyllis Schlafly →

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• Explore the life of Schlafly — five chapters
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