How a self-taught conservative activist successfully derailed the Equal Rights Amendment in America

History · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Phyllis Schlafly was a formidable political force who rose from humble beginnings to become a central figure in 20th-century American conservatism. Though she never held elected office, her strategic mobilization of grassroots supporters and her fierce opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment fundamentally altered the trajectory of national politics.

Born in 1924, Phyllis Stewart grew up in St. Louis during the Great Depression. Her early life was defined by intellectual rigor and hard work; she earned a master’s degree in government from Radcliffe College in 1945 and later a law degree in 1978. After marrying lawyer John Fred Schlafly, Jr. in 1949, she settled in Illinois, where she began her long career as a conservative organizer. Her political ascent was marked by a strongly anticommunist platform and a knack for self-publishing, most notably with her 1964 book, A Choice Not an Echo, which sold over three million copies and helped propel Barry Goldwater to the Republican presidential nomination.

Schlafly’s most significant political impact arrived in 1972 when she launched a national campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). She argued that the amendment would strip women of unique privileges, such as exemption from military conscription and financial support from their spouses. Through her organization, Stop ERA—later absorbed into the Eagle Forum—she mobilized a massive, well-organized movement. Her efforts were widely credited with the eventual failure of the ERA to achieve ratification by the necessary number of states, cementing her reputation as a powerful, if polarizing, spokeswoman for traditional family roles.

Critics frequently noted the apparent contradiction between her public defense of the traditional homemaker role and her own highly active, decades-long career as a writer, lobbyist, and media personality. Despite losing several congressional bids, her influence remained potent well into the 21st century. She remained a fixture at Republican national conventions, maintained a syndicated column, and hosted a weekly radio show, ensuring her conservative philosophy continued to shape the national conversation long after her initial rise to prominence.

General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.

Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?

Related

• The amendment that nearly changed the Constitution but stalled in the states
• Jeannette Rankin was the first woman in Congress, but she wanted a different legacy.
• How a radical 1848 convention sparked the long battle for American women's voting rights
• The 19th Amendment: A Century of Struggle for a Single Right
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton opposed the Fifteenth Amendment because it left women out
• From Bastille insurgent to Napoleonic general: the complex legacy of Pierre-Augustin Hulin
• How a failed scholar-gentry exam candidate became Vietnam's most influential anti-colonial revolutionary
• The French Revolutionary who built the state's financial architecture and toppled Robespierre
• The Bidjigal warrior who waged a twelve-year guerrilla war against British colonial expansion
• The Pashtun mystic who built a century-long resistance against the mighty Mughal Empire
• How a Los Angeles activist turned personal trauma into a global protest movement
• Po’pay: The Tewa leader who orchestrated the most successful Indigenous revolt against European colonization.

More in Rebels, revolutionaries and activists · More in History · Latest · A–Z · All topics