Final answer:
The Equal Rights Amendment was not ratified due to opposition led by Phyllis Schlafly, who argued it would disadvantage women in various legal contexts, combined with a lack of sufficient support from the required number of states.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. It stated that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Although the ERA passed Congress in 1972, it was not ratified by the necessary majority of state legislatures. A key factor in the failure to ratify the ERA was the opposition led by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly and her STOP ERA movement.
Schlafly argued that the amendment would eliminate laws that protected women and lead to them being drafted into the military, losing preferential treatment in child custody cases, and being less likely to receive alimony in divorce proceedings. Despite initial momentum and support from figures like Alice Paul, who first proposed the ERA in 1923, and endorsement from some conservative politicians, the ratification effort ultimately fell short by three states. Congress extended the deadline from 1979 to 1982, but no additional states ratified the amendment during this period, and some states even rescinded their ratification.