Phyllis Schlafly: The Gender Pay Gap Helps Women
Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative firebrand and founder of Eagle Forum, an organization that touts family values, wrote an op-ed about the income gap between men and women. It appears she would like the gap to widen.
Writing in christianpost.com, Schafly starts the piece with “President Barack Obama and his feminist friends have been trolling out their tiresome slogan that women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. Every reputable scholar who has commented has proved that this is a notorious falsehood that anyone should be embarrassed to use.”
Schlafly was a leader in opposing the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. She was involved with a group called “STOP,” which stood for Stop Taking our Privileges.” She argued the ERA would take away the dependent wife clause in Social Security benefits as well as the exemption from Selective Service.
In the op-ed Schafly continued “Women work fewer hours per day, per week, per year. They spend fewer years as full-time workers outside the home, avoid jobs that require overtime, and choose jobs with flexibility to take time off for personal reasons.”
“Women place a much higher value on pleasant working conditions: a clean, comfortable, air-conditioned office with congenial co-workers. Men, on the other hand, are more willing to endure unpleasant working conditions to earn higher pay, doing dirty, dangerous work. In 2012, men suffered 92 percent of work-related deaths.”
As previously report in inquisitr, Senate Republicans unanimously voted down the Paycheck Fairness Act last week.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) appeared on “Face the Nation” Sunday and said “I find this war on women rhetoric almost silly. It is Republicans that have led the fight for women’s equality. Go back through history and look who was the first woman to vote, to get elected to office, to go to Congress, four out of five governors.”
The Huffington Post reported that Blackburn previously voted against the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Schlafly also wrote closing the wage gap could hurt marriages.
“Suppose the pay gap between men and women were magically eliminated. If that happened, simple arithmetic suggests that half of women would be unable to find what they regard as a suitable mate.
“Obviously, I’m not saying women won’t date or marry a lower-earning man, only that they probably prefer not to. If a higher-earning man is not available, many women are likely not to marry at all.”
“The pay gap between men and women is not all bad because it helps to promote and sustain marriages.”
Schafly, 89, is the author of 21 books.
[Image via wikipedia.org]
