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Eagle Forum Rejects Feminists' Attempt to Institute Government Wage Control

"The feminists support these pieces of legislation because they wantWashington bureaucrats, rather than the free market, to unfairly raise the wages of jobs held mostly by females and freeze the wages of jobs held mostly by men," said Eagle Forum president and founder Phyllis Schlafly. "Degrees in education or women's studies or sociology simply do not earn the same pay as degrees in engineering or science or finance, yet more women persist in choosing the former and more men the latter."

"They advocate the silly notion that the so-called pay gap is created by a conspiracy of male chauvinists and that women only make about 77 cents on the dollar compared to men," said Schlafly. "That statistic includes women like me who spent 25 years raising my children without any income and therefore will never reach the pay level of similarly qualified men or women who spend those years in the workforce. The statistic does not indicate inequality, but differences in workforce participation.

"We believe in equal pay for equal work, and that has been the law of our land since the Equal Pay Act of 1963. People who work more hours, or work at more difficult, unpleasant or risky jobs, earn more and they should," Schalfly said. "'Pay equity' is nothing more than warped feminist ideology and it has been rejected by almost all U.S. legislatures and courts that have considered it for that very reason."

The feminist groups that attended the press conference, which also included the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc. and the National Association of Social Workers, applauded the inclusion of the Equal Rights Amendment language in the 2008 Democratic platform and hailed Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) for his work in advancing feminist pork legislation, such as the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA). They also made clear their contempt for pro-life Governor Sarah Palin.

"Not only did the feminists invent the code words 'comparable worth' and 'pay equity' decades ago, but they also invented the imaginary 'glass ceiling,' which many women have shattered, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and of course, Sen. McCain's running mate, Governor Sarah Palin," concluded Schlafly. "The feminists can't stand it when conservative women are successful. Today, they simply reaffirmed what we already know, that feminists do not stand for all women, only liberal women."

Media Availability: to schedule an interview with Eagle Forum president Phyllis Schlafly, please contact our St. Louis office at 314-721-1213.

SOURCE Eagle Forum