Phyllis Schlafly and the Anti-ERA Movement Through an Evaluation of the Media’s Portrayal of Women

Abstract

This paper discusses the correlation between anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly and her language in the Equal Rights Amendment (“ERA”) debate and the 1950s media portrayal of women. Schlafly claims anti-feminists were the victims of media representation; she asserts in her December 1979 edition of the Phyllis Schlafly Report, “not a single magazine published an article against ERA -- or even gave equal space to the arguments pro and con.” While this paper did not research coverage of the ERA debate in the media, I did investigate how preceding media shaped Phyllis Schlafly’s advocacy using an inductive thematic content analysis. In her assertion that the anti-feminists were victims of biased media, Schlafly does not consider how the media supported her argument. In this study, I reflected on the media portrayal of women before the ERA debate and the mobilization of Second Wave Feminism by evaluating advertisements in Life Magazine and The Ladies Home Journal. I hypothesized that the depiction of women in 1950s media directly influenced Schlafly’s advocacy and her view of women’s roles, which aided in the success of her advocacy. This paper discusses how the advertisements laid a foundation to support Schlafly’s claim that women do not want/need constitutional equality with men. The findings of this study indicate the consequences of stereotypical media portrayals and their ability to dictate political and social debates, especially in terms of the repercussions of the depiction of the 1950s housewife.