LOS ANGELES — A new series by FX will highlight St. Louis native Phyllis Schlafly and her fight—and win—against the women’s movement in the 1970s.
“Mrs. America” is a limited series starring Cate Blanchett as Schlafly. It’ll premiere April 15 on Hulu.
“I am not against women. I am not against women working outside the home. But what I am against is the women’s liberation movement,” Blanchett’s character is heard saying in the official trailer for the show. “We want the right to be a mother, the right to be a wife. The libbers want to create a sex-neutral feminist totalitarian nightmare.”
The series will be based on actual events from the ‘70s.
Schlafly created the pro-family movement when she started her national volunteer organization called Eagle Forum, according to the organization’s website. The series follows her fight to protect traditional family values and the women, like Gloria Steinem, who were working against her.
FX released this description of the show:
‘Mrs. America tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly, played by Blanchett. Through the eyes of the women of that era - both Schlafly and second wave feminists Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus - the series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the 70s helped give rise to the Moral Majority and forever shifted our political landscape.’
The series stars:
Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly
Rose Byrne as Gloria Steinem
Sarah Paulson as “Alice” (composite character)
Margo Martindale as Bella Abzug
Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm
Elizabeth Banks as Jill Ruckelshaus
Tracey Ullman as Betty Friedan
John Slattery as Fred Schlafly
James Marsden as Phil Crane
