What were the objections to the Equal Rights Amendment?

Question

I've never understood this particular historical issue. At first glance, an amendment claiming to guarantee equal rights to women sounds good, but the devil is always in the details. There had to be several reasonable objections to the ERA, or it would not have failed; I'll settle for three, but more would be appreciated. Be sure to give sources.

yankee_sailor makes an excellent
point--i.e., one I never thought of. Of course the liberals and feminists would be against something that could ultimately mean increased rights for men as well as women, or that would cause women to have to actually step up to the plate when it comes to things like military service. Like I said, the devil is in the details.

Answer 1

The overall assumption was that equal rights were already protected by existing laws, so these additional laws were delineating extra rights above and beyond for a specific group. The major opposition was in principle, between political groups reacting to each other's perceived agendas and biases. So all the laws or opinions written based on this unresolved conflict were taken as carrying that same bias.

Answer 2

A couple of the objections were that women would have to serve in combat roles in the military and that people of different sexes would have to share bathrooms...totally ludicrous objection because most of us share bathrooms facilities in our homes. We don't have the gents and the ladies there; we just close the doors...duh!!
Phyllis Schlaffly traveled all over the US telling women they should be staying at home caring for their families...(???) and that they should all be against the ERA.

Answer 3

die hard conservative opposition should be easy to figure...

but some left/liberal/feminist opposition came from

Equal rights= means no alimony, no automatic child custody, and women being subject to the Selective Service Act and the draft

Answer 4

In a nutshell...it went TOO far. It was actually more of a women's entitlement movement and would have put them ABOVE AND BEYOND equality.
I think they already realised that one form of Affirmative Action was enough---rather than add another form of it.