Suggested Research Topics - Two Sides of Feminism: Support for and Opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment

When the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution was proposed in 1923, it created a rift among suffragists. Women who had fought for protective labor legislation feared that the ERA would undo their efforts to protect women in the workplace, while feminists believed the amendment was necessary to bring about equality for women in American society. The opposition to the amendment by women who otherwise supported women's rights persisted through mid-century, as is illustrated in the records of organizations such as the National Consumers League. In the 1960s and 1970s the women's liberation movement began to produce new views of the ERA and renewed support for the amendment.

Several collections at the Bentley contain material on the ERA and allow an examination of the changing arguments and bases of support for and opposition to the ERA from the 1940s to the 1970s. The Dorothy Smith McAllister papers provide an interesting entree to the topic. A Democratic Party activist beginning in the 1930s, McAllister was also active in the National Consumers League and in Prohibition reform. Like other women interested in the cause of women workers, McAllister opposed the ERA because she feared it would undermine protective legislation designed to help women workers.

Elaine Donnelly, active in the Republican Party and in the STOP ERA campaign in the 1970s and 1980s, represents the more conservative opposition to the ERA in the 1970s. But the papers of Elly Peterson, a lifelong Republican and co-chair of ERAmerica, demonstrate that support for the ERA in the 1970s did not fall neatly along party lines. A number of other collections provide insight into this topic.

Which groups supported and which groups opposed the ERA? Were there links between the groups supporting or opposing the ERA and other reform organizations? Was the struggle over the ERA in Michigan typical of the struggle across the country or did it evince characteristics peculiar to this state? How did the arguments for and against the ERA change from the 1940s to the 1970s?

Examples of Primary Source Collections and Other Resources:

Selected Secondary Sources.


In an effort to encourage creative thinking about possible research topics for students unfamiliar with archives and their inevitable complexities, archivists and student employees of the Bentley Historical Library have authored "suggested research topics ." The purpose of these is not to define a topic but rather to stimulate thinking about a topic where the holdings of the Bentley Library are particularly strong.