Phyllis Schlafly


 * This article is about the character. For the first episode of Mrs. America, see Phyllis (episode), and for the person the character is based on, see Phyllis Schlafly (person).

"This fight is not about equality. It's about power."

Phyllis Schlafly was a self-described activist housewife from Illinois and a conservative firebrand and virulent anti-communist. She spearheaded the national campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, turning the women's movement into a battleground over abortion, homosexuality, and so-called "family values". She is portrayed by Cate Blanchett.

History
Phyllis's story began in 1971, with her pondering another run for the congressional seat she lost two decades earlier. She was at a conservative fundraising dinner, where she paraded for the crowd in a star-spangled bikini and was introduced as "Mrs. J. Fred Schlafly" in deference to her lawyer husband. Republican politicians, as well as her friend Alice, encouraged her to speak out against the ERA, but she insisted that she was not interested in running on women's issues. When she appeared on a talk show hosted by Illinois congressman Phil Crane to discuss her opposition to President Nixon's foreign policy, he was impressed to realize that she knew more about the SALT treaty than he did. But when she met with Goldwater and his staff to discuss SALT, she was asked to take notes on the meeting like a glorified secretary, even though her command of the subject dwarfed theirs. She took up the anti-ERA cause not because she genuinely cared about it, but because it was her only way to carve out an influential niche for herself in a power structure that otherwise has no respect for her intelligence or tactical savvy.

Appearances

 * "Phyllis"
 * "Gloria"
 * "Shirley"
 * "Betty"
 * "Phyllis & Fred & Brenda & Marc"
 * "Jill"
 * "Bella"
 * "Houston"
 * "Reagan"

Trivia

 * The character is based on the real Phyllis Schlafly.
 * Blanchett's first knowledge the persona of Phyllis Schlafly was her coming out in support of Trump, so she was reverse-engineering her understanding of Schlafly's grass-roots influence over how we got where we are today.