Which conservative activist led opposition in the 1970s to women's rights acts and movements as defying traditional gender roles?

• A. Betty Friedan
• B. Gloria Steinem
• C. Phyllis Schlafly
• D. Rosa Parks

Answer: (C)

Phyllis Schlafly led the opposition by arguing that pushing for equal rights and feminist reforms would disrupt traditional gender roles and weaken the family structure. She organized the STOP ERA campaign and used her platform to claim that the Equal Rights Amendment and broader women’s-rights efforts would strip protections women had in labor and family law and push women into roles that her supporters viewed as less natural. This stance—valuing distinct, traditional domestic and public-sphere roles for men and women—made Schlafly the prominent figure challenging the 1970s movement for women’s rights. Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem were leaders of the feminist push itself, while Rosa Parks is associated with the Civil Rights Movement, not this debate about gender roles.