The Scare Tactics Were Wrong in 1972. They're Still Wrong.
When Congress passed the ERA in 1972, Phyllis Schlafly launched the STOP ERA campaign with a simple, effective, completely fabricated argument: the ERA would force women into unisex bathrooms, eliminate alimony, and draft women into combat. None of this was in the text of the ERA. All of it dominated the conversation for a decade.
The tactic had deep roots. When Alice Burke and Nell Richardson drove 10,700 miles across America in 1916 demanding women's suffrage, the press called their car "the little yellow ant" and described how their "noses blistered" in the Texas sun — as if women's discomfort in the public sphere was self-evident from their complexions. Senator J.B. Sanford put the philosophy plainly: "Politics is no place for a woman." The Physical Force Theory held that since government ultimately rests on military power, only those capable of bearing arms deserved the vote.
1910s: Women can't vote because they can't fight. 1970s: Women can't have equal rights because they might have to fight. Same argument, different decade, different suit.
Ronald Reagan claimed to support gender equality but opposed the ERA, arguing it would "hurt women" by exposing them to the draft. Jimmy Carter called the scare tactics "deliberate attempts to distort a simple proposition." He was right. But distortion worked. Thirty-five states had ratified the ERA by 1977 — and then the momentum stalled.
In 2025, the resistance upgraded its toolkit: executive orders issued January 20 rewrote federal anti-discrimination policy overnight; Project 2025's 900-page agenda explicitly targets women's legal equality; and the post-Dobbs Supreme Court landscape strips constitutional protection from rights ERA proponents had long argued the amendment would guarantee. The fortress changes shape every generation. The drawbridge stays up — until enough people demand it come down.
The ERA: Part 3 of 4
The Amendment That's Already Been Ratified — So Why Isn't It Law?
No, the Constitution Does Not Guarantee Women Equal Rights. Here's the Proof.
The Scare Tactics Were Wrong in 1972. They're Still Wrong.
203 Years, One College Student, and Why the ERA's 'Deadline' Is a Myth
———
Congress needs to hear from you directly. Sign the petition at Sign4ERA.org.