The Housewife Vs The Feminists

As Australian stars Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne go head to head in the brilliant drama Mrs America, Juliet Rieden investigates the real women who inspired this sizzling feminist versus housewife battle for equal rights in the US.

- Juliet Rieden

We’ve all heard of Gloria Steinem, the charismatic poster girl for America’s feminist movement, founding editor of Ms magazine and ardent activist in the battle to legalise abortion, but Phyllis Schla y – who is she?

Phyllis was in many ways Gloria’s nemesis, a conservative self-professed homemaker whose grassroots campaign against what should have been a shoo-in amendment securing equal rights for women – and men – was not only audacious, it succeeded.

The seemingly prim pillar of the right is the subject of Foxtel’s superb nine-part series Mrs America starring the cream of Aussie acting, Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne – and interestingly it is the buttoned-up right-winger who steals the show. In pastel A-line dresses and soft knits, her hair an undulating bouffant up-do with chaste kiss-curls, Cate’s Phyllis is an intriguing anti-heroine who you can’t help but admire for her intelligence, tenacity and disruption, even if her opinions feel out of whack with the times and hard to stomach.

As the show’s Executive Producer, Coco Francini, says: “If you’re on one side of the political divide you’re watching the rise of a superhero and if you’re on the other side of the political divide you’re watching the rise of a supervillain.” Whatever your viewpoint, we are clearly watching a superwoman with the sort of reactionary views that in the 21st century have helped populist leaders get elected around the world – not least the vanquishing of Hillary Clinton by Donald Trump.