ERA in the NEWS: MAY 23-29, 2020

MRS. AMERICA FINAL EPISODE DROPS

The final episode of the Mrs. America mini-series dropped this past Wednesday. Co-produced by Cate Blanchett, who stars as anti-ERA activist Phyllis Shlafly, the series is a fictionalized portrayal of the fight to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970s and 1980s.

This past week in an interview reported in The Guardian, feminist leader Gloria Steinem, who is played by the actress Rose Byrne in the series, called the show "ridiculous." She went on to say:

“For instance, there’s now a not very good series here called Mrs America and it gives you the impression that … Schlafly, who was a very religious and rightwing woman who opposed the equal rights amendment … it gives you the impression that she was the reason it was defeated.

In actuality, I don’t believe she changed one vote. Nobody could ever discover that she changed even one vote. The insurance industry here opposed the Equal Rights Amendment because if they stopped segregating their actuarial tables it would cost them millions upon millions of dollars .”

The Mrs. America mini-series has been fun and entertaining television to watch, yet we've come to realize that it does not adequately address the Equal Rights Amendment, its complex history, or what it will do for women and men in America once it is fully ratified to the U.S. Constitution. The script of the series is strong, the acting and costumes superb, and engaging storytelling through gorgeous cinematography, but the lack of clarity and focus on the powerful impact the ERA will have has been a disappointment.

In the coming weeks, the members of the ERA Advocacy Committee of the Alice Paul Institute will be designing, creating, and launching new content to address the void of information left by the Mrs. America series. We're putting together some dynamic Virtual "Meet-Ups" and have launched our ERA Storytellers Project to collect the stories of activists who were working to advance the ERA in the 1970s and 1980s (more info below). We are also designing more ready-to-post social media content to support your advocacy efforts. Keep an eye on this weekly newsletter and our social media streams for more announcements and releases. We've got some great content on the way soon!

SHARE YOUR ERA STORY

The Advocacy Committee of the Alice Paul Institute has launched the ERA Storytellers Project to collect the stories of the activists who have been on the front lines fighting for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. We are especially interested in the stories from activists who advocated or worked with their state legislatures to ratify the ERA, and those who marched during the 1970s and 1980s . Additionally, in our continued work to expand historical narratives and include all voices, we are deeply interested in hearing from people of color , and members of the GLBTQ+ communities.

Interested? Click the button below, fill out the quick survey, and we'll be in touch to coordinate an interview.

SURVEY

UPDATES ON S.J. RES 6 IN THE SENATE

As elected official across the nation continue to work and respond to the current public health crisis, we will continue to monitor the number co-sponsors on the Senate bill to remove the original time limit on the Equal Rights Amendment. View the full resolution HERE .

Co-Sponsors = 48 (same last week)