Mrs. America - Ep. 5- The Couples Debate Highlight

The ERA has been ratified by 33 states so far. It will have to be ratified by 38 states. And that's two that have rescinded. But states really aren't able to rescind. So the first thing is to acknowledge the truth, which is that women are discriminated against. Well, I don't acknowledge that at all. Well, then I'll just lay out my version of the truth. Before we get into that, I would like to give Mrs. Schlafly and Mr. Schlafly an opportunity to enumerate what they think this amendment means, and then we'll come over to this side and you can say what you and Mark think it means. Is that okay? I'll say what I think and Mark will say what he thinks. Okay, everyone will say what they think, all right? Fine. Here we go. Mr. Schlafly. Well, under the ERA, the poor girls would have to support the family 50%. But wouldn't we be getting something for that? First, Tom, let me just say the ERA would impose a doctrinaire equality on men and women and take away from women some of the most important rights and privileges they now have by law. And that's why we think it's a fraud. Can you give us an example of what you mean? Well, for example, under our current system, in a case of a breakup of marriage, the mother gets the children. Now, who wants to trade that in for a so-called equality whereby each parent gets one child? The ERA does not say that in the case of divorce, each parent gets one child. Oh, yes, it does. It says you have to interpret things absolutely equally. Well, what if she has one child? Would it be cut in half? Oh, well, you can joke all you want. I mean, the courts would decide, as they did with a recent Washington, D.C. case, where three children were given to the father and the mother had to pay child support. What was the name of the case? They'd be crazy to say that was an advance for women. But the larger issue is that the ERA erodes the institution of marriage, not just in divorce. Cite the case. The case? Well, I'd have to look it up. You don't know the name of the case? Well, there's so many cases. We don't have time to cite them all. We don't have time to cite them all. Just name this one case. The point is, if everything must be equal in the logical extension of the ERA, is that we would have a gender-neutral society. You have scared the women of America into believing something that is not based in reality. But when you argue an actual point in the real world in a court of law, you need to cite a case to support your arguments, so cite the case. Well, I think it was Foley v. Langham or Lancaster, something like that. No, there is no such case. Oh, yes, there is. Did you just make up a case? I'm not a lawyer. No, I'm the wife of a lawyer, and I really do think that's more fun. Listen, I doubt we're going to get to agree on this at all today, so we should just move on. The fact is, there is no Foley v. Langham case. Also, a fact is that you are not really a housewife. You are a full-time lobbyist working to defeat the ERA so that businessmen can continue to make millions of dollars discriminating against women when they work, when they buy insurance, and when they give birth. No, well, I don't work for anyone. Oh, great, so you're a patsy. Well, maybe you should stick to baking and leave interpreting the law to the lawyers. Okay, you both have some opinionated wives, but seriously, let's bring the fellas in on this and have them get a word in. Mark, you are in what you call an equal marriage, so let me ask you this. Who wears the pants in your family? Well, we both do. Brenda looks much better in them than I do, but our marriage was really forged in the crucible of feminism, so we don't have a side role. And Fred, how about you? Well, your wife has a very strong and dominant kind of style. Does she wear the pants in your family? Oh, no, she doesn't. I'm obviously physically larger than she is. Yeah, well, he chins himself 25 times every morning. And she's very submissive. Submissive? Oh. Phyllis Schlafly, submissive? I just, I, I can't even. Is that right? Well, um, Fred's the boss of the family, and, um... All right. Well, speaking of submissive, we've got some bills to pay here, so...