On The Front Lines
OldSpeak Hosts Interview with Phyllis Schlafly, Conservative Pro-Family Activist and Eagle Forum Founder
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--OldSpeak, an online publication of The Rutherford Institute, hosts this week an exclusive interview with conservative pro-family activist Phyllis Schlafly, who single-handedly defeated the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and has been hailed as a role model for conservative women ever since. Along with her organization Eagle Forum, Schlafly has continued, through a syndicated column and public appearances, to offer her opinion on a wide range of topics, including illegal immigration and border control, privacy invasions of the Patriot Act, the role of women in society, and the failure of the feminist movement. In her interview with Institute President John W. Whitehead, Schlafly speaks frankly about the legacy of the feminist movement, the failure of George Bush, Sr., Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich to advance the conservative cause, civil liberties and the war on terror, women in combat, and other issues. Click here to read the interview.Born in Saint Louis, Mo., in 1924, Phyllis Schlafly is a graduate of Washington University, received her J.D. from Washington University Law School, and received her Master's in Political Science from Harvard University. She is the author of a number of books on various subjects, including family and feminism (The Power of the Positive Woman), nuclear strategy (Strike From Space and Kissinger on the Couch), education (Child Abuse in the Classroom), and child care (Who Will Rock the Cradle?). She is also the mother of six children. Since the publication of her 1964 book, A Choice Not An Echo, Schlafly has been a force to reckon with in the conservative movement. The book sold 3 million copies and was credited with winning Barry Goldwater the Republican nomination and ushering in a new era of Republican conservatism. In 1972, she founded the national volunteer organization called Eagle Forum which famously defeated the Equal Rights Amendment in a grueling ten-year battle. As Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn recently wrote in The Washington Times, "anyone who has lived through the late-20th century culture wars has heard the name Phyllis Schlafly." In her latest book Feminist Fantasies, a collection of essays written over the past 30 years, Schlafly accuses the feminist movement of betraying American women with its "you can have it all" message and contributing to much of what ails contemporary families.
"The feminist movement has spent 30 years putting down the role of stay-at-home moms and trying to tell young women that only someone who is mentally disabled would pick that for a career," said Schlafly. "They paint marriage as a dreary life for a woman. In Feminist Fantasies, I show how a lot of the women who followed that line 20 years ago regretted it. When they got past 40, they realized that life had passed them by."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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