Equal Rights Amendment Research Paper

The discussion of equal rights is one that has arisen many times over the United States’ relatively short existence as a country. Things such as the post-civil war legislation that gace blacks citizenship and the right to vote, the women’s suffrage movement of the early 20th century, and the American’s with Disabilities Act of 1990 have all been instrumental in bringing the country closer to equal rights for all citizens despite race, gender,or physical condition. However, not all fights for equality have been successful. Despite being given the right to vote by the 19th amendment, by the later half of the 20th century, women were still struggling to receive equal rights. The 1970s battle for the Equal Rights Amendment is one that failed, despite …show more content…
She stated that while the Equal Rights Amendment does not explicitly state that women will become eligible to go into combat, there was nothing preventing it. She claimed that it would be an inevitable result of ratifying the amendment, and that it would essentially be a disaster since she believed that women were not suited for war. One final thing that Schlafly claimed would be lost in the event the ERA was ratified, was the right of women to not work. For generation, nothing more had been expected for women than for them to stay home, cook, clean, take care of their children, and partake in trivial hobbies. With the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, Schlafly believed that women would be forced to go to work, despite what was considered traditional behavior by many Americans. In addition to the idea that the Equal Rights Amendment would take away valuable privileges from American women, as well as promote unhealthy and immoral lifestyles that included “social disruption…increased divorce rate…weakened family ties…[and] alcoholism”, Schlafly was also concerned with how its ratification would affect state laws. She believed that lawmakers would have to make provisions to an insane amount of state legislation once the amendment was put in place. Furthermore, A strong proponent of the states having the most power, she was also worried that the passage of the ERA would give more power to the federal

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