Cate Blanchett has claimed that women have lost the art of civilised public debate and are instead resorting to “haranguing matches and shouting”.

The Oscar-winning actress who takes the part of conservative -author Phyllis Schlafly in the new TV drama Mrs America said she admired the way women would speak in the Seventies.

“There was a real strong -culture of robust public debate and I feel like that is something we’ve lost, not just in America but globally,”she told Radio Times.

“We’ve got haranguing matches and shouting but we haven’t got a sense of public discourse, and these women actually talked and debated these things through.

“They didn’t always agree with one another, but the discussion was part of the process and I feel that has been really lost.”

Blanchett’s observations come just weeks after J.K. Rowling came under fire for her views on transgender issues. Harry Potter star Emma Watson was among those critical of the author’s comments.

Watson, who played Hermione in the film franchise based on the author’s books, tweeted: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”

Other stars that have been criticised by LBGT supporters include actress Scarlett Johansson for accepting a role as a transgender person and feminist author Germaine Greer for being a “rape apologist”.

Blanchett said while contested issues remain unchanged, the topics of discussion 50 years ago are now fought over in polemical terms, with opposing parties arguing over “same-sex bathrooms” and “same-sex marriage” in a “Groundhog Day” of recycled and refought political battles.

“Will women be drafted into the military? That came up earlier this year with events in Iran. It couldn’t be more relevant.”

Blanchett, who has long supported gender equality in the acting world, also said that women have constantly been outnumbered by men there.

She said: “I always knew in my DNA that women were equal to men. I couldn’t quite understand why the industry and work environment that I got spat into didn’t reflect that, so I felt out of sync for a long time.

“At one point, I started doing a head count of the ratio of men to women on every set I walked on.

“For my entire career, up until about four years ago, I was the one woman to 35 men. I was the one woman to 27 men. I was the one woman to 16 men. I just thought it was normal.' Despite the positive changes to address the balance, Cate insisted that the push towards equality is “not just a fashionable moment in time”.

Cate is married to playwright and director Andrew Upton, with whom she shares four children.

The Daily Telegraph