attempted to appeal the U.S. district court decision,
but in 1982 the Supreme Court declared the ERA
dead and any attempts to resuscitate it invalid.
Opposition to the ERA was at times an exercise in
irony. For example, one of the ERA’s most vocal op-
ponents, conservative spokeswoman Phyllis Schlafly,
declared that the ERA would “take away the marvel-
ous legal rights of a woman to be a full-time wife and
mother in the house supported by her husband.”
Schlafly was herself a Harvard-educated lawyer and a
two-time congressional candidate.
The fate of the ERA reflected a shift in political at-
titudes and a rise in the power of conservative Re-
publicans such as Schlafly and Paul Weyrich. Critics
of the ERA declared that the amendment would
have granted too much power to Congress and the
federal courts. Campaigns played on public fears,
declaring that the ERA would mean that womenThe Eighties in America Women’s rights 1059
1985 (continued)
Feminists Andrea Dworkin and Catharine A. MacKinnon draft an antipornography ordinance for In-
dianapolis, Indiana, that calls works of pornography an infringement on women’s rights; the Feminist
Anti-Censorship Task Force (FACT) is founded to oppose the ordinance.1986
InMeritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously recognizes that sexual harass-
ment in the workplace represents a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down an antipornography ordinance as a violation of the First
Amendment inAmerican Booksellers Association v. Hudnut.
Randall Terry creates Operation Rescue to close down abortion clinics.1987
Canada passes the Pay Equity Act.
Fund for the Feminist Majority (FFM) is launched to place women in positions of leadership in busi-
ness, education, government, law, and other fields.1988
Congress passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act, restoring the ability to enforce provisions of Title IX
of the Education Amendments of 1972.
The Canadian Supreme Court strikes down a federal law regulating abortion as unconstitutional.
Congress passes the Women’s Business Ownership Act.
Congress passes the Family Support Act, which is designed to enforce child support orders and to
promote self-sufficiency among large numbers of female welfare recipients.1989
InWards Cove Packing Company v. Atonio, the U.S. Supreme Court shifts the burden of proof in Title
VII employment discrimination cases to the plaintiffs, requiring them to show that the employment
practices they challenge actually cause the discrimination they claim to have suffered.
The U.S. Supreme Court inLorance v. AT&T Technologiesrules that an employee filing a complaint
about unfair employment practices must do so within 180 days of the alleged violation. The opinion is
regarded as a setback for female employees who cannot anticipate the deadlines that they confront in
filing charges.
Antonia Novello is appointed U.S. surgeon general, the first woman and first Latino to fill that posi-
tion.
The U.S. Supreme Court rules inWebster v. Reproductive Health Servicesthat states have the authority to
limit a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion.