Mrs. America Review from a Queenager Who Lived the ERA

Years ago I watched in wonder as Phyllis Schlafly campaigned against passage of the Equal Rights Amendment while working and acting like a “liberated” woman. I wondered, “How could she not understand what the ERA would mean to all women, including herself?” How could her followers ignore the contradictions?

Now, a half century later, a new television series on Hulu, Mrs. America, recreates the past and explores the people, especially Schlafly, involved in the fight for the ERA. It is streaming on Wednesdays on Hulu. Logging on is a pain, but it’s free for your first subscription month, then it’s about $6 monthly for this and other interesting shows.

The first episode introduces Schlafly and briefly her opposition, Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug. Of these activists, only Steinem remains alive and apparently well at age 86, as of this writing. I hope she is interviewed on her thoughts about this film.

The first episode dramatizes Schlafly as a wealthy and smart woman, married with children to a man who reluctantly supports her activism. She has become an expert on national defense issues. In a heartbreaking scene in a Congressional discussion she is ignored by the men in the room and asked to take notes like a secretary. Her Congressional sponsor, Illinois’ own Phil Crane, then makes passes at her. How could she not be furious? Instead she smiles sweetly then turns her activism against the ERA.

Sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for virtuous women.

Phyllis Schlafly

Is all this true? I didn’t notice any reference to a book on Schlafly in the credits, so maybe this scene, and others, are simply created as entertainment. Schlafly is portrayed as a lively, lovely woman, but I suspect she was a rigid moralist. We will see as the series plays out.

The film is interesting as a look into the past. Artifacts from the times have been used in the sets to create a spot-on look at home decor and clothing styles from the ERA era. One artifact used and mentioned is the classic book by Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, which helped spark the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s and 1970s in the U.S.

Though it’s been listed as one of the most important books of the 20th century, ask your children if they have ever heard of it. Likely they have not. Friedan grew up in Peoria, Illinois, where an ad hoc committee is working to preserve her work and memory, with a website and even a named bench in a park where she played as a child.

The audience is more likely to recognize the stars in this film, Cate Blanchett as Schlafly, Rose Byrne as Steinem, Tracy Ullman as Friedan, Uzo Adubba as Chisholm, and others. The series is well acted and staged, so let’s hope it is accurate as a look into the past.

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