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From: winkler@harvard.ARPA (Dan Winkler)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Why the ERA didn't pass
Message-ID: <132@harvard.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 16-May-85 16:51:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: harvard.132
Posted: Thu May 16 16:51:40 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 19-May-85 04:15:43 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Aiken Computation Laboratory, Harvard
Lines: 81

Here's a brief summary of what I found out about why the ERA didn't
pass.  If there's interest, I'll post actual quotes and more specific
data, but for now I'll just give a short paraphrase.

The two main sources of opposition to the ERA that I investigated were
the STOP-ERA movement (led by Phyllis Schlafly) and the Mormon Church.
Here are some of the claims they made:

1.  Women Belong in the Home

	Schlafly expressed this sentiment bluntly, saying that 
	being a homemaker is the ultimate fulfillment for a woman.  
	
2.  There Are Differences Between Men and Women that the ERA Ignores

	The Mormon position was that there are emotional, biological,
	and other differences between men and women.  That's not a
	very specific statement, and I suppose it could be interpreted
	to mean some of the same thing as point 1 above.  
	
3.  Discrimination Against Women is Better Fought by Specific Legislation

	The Mormon position is that specific legislation will allow you
	to discriminate between men and women based on natural differences.
	This too is quite vague, but I suppose it means that you could
	have separate bathrooms, can provide special considerations for
	pregnant women, and so on.  They point out that even with the ERA, 
	specific legislation is still needed to enforce it and that the ERA 
	only deals with discrimation by the government.

4.  The ERA Would Make It Harder to Stop Abortion

	The Mormon Church is opposed to abortion and felt that the ERA
	could imply that women should have all conceivable freedoms,
	including that of abortion.

5.  The ERA Would Condone Homosexual Marriages

	The Mormon concern was that Homosexual couples could adopt
	children.

6.  The ERA Might Cause Women to be Drafted into Combat Positions

	The Mormon stand is that immunity from the draft is a 
	traditional privilege for women that should not be removed.
	I was amused that they also questioned the morality of
	housing male and female troops together, but did not
	question the morality of war itself.

7.  The ERA Would Transfer More Power to the Federal Government

	The Mormon position paper pointed out that the ERA would
	involve the federal government in certain domestic issues
	(like divorce) which have formerly been handled by the
	state.

8.  The ERA is Redundant Because of the 14th Amendment and Other Legislation

	The 14th amendment already protects all people, women
	included.  Also, many specific laws exist to protect
	women.

9.  The ERA is Too Vaguely Worded

	The Mormon paper admits that it's impossible to tell if
	its fears would actually come true under ERA, but charge
	that only time will tell how the courts will interpret it.
	They also suggest that the courts will look to the 
	Congressional Record to find out what the lawmakers were
	thinking and find that specific restrictions to the ERA
	(such as one concerning military service) were kept out.

Those are some of the main points.  To discuss this
intelligently, we should also have a copy of the ERA and the
14th amendment, but I'm too pressed for time to type them in
right now.  The Mormon position paper I used is called "The
Church and the Proposed Equal Rights Amendment: A Moral Issue".
I think I've paraphrased the views expressed in it accurately,
but if there's any question I will supply actual quotes.

Dan. (winkler@harvard)