The same woman who led an opposition campaign against the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment has just come out to support the GOP frontrunner, Donald J. Trump.
What a surprise.
Phyllis Schlafly has decided to awake from her pink, lacy tomb of retirement to once again state the absurd. Last week, she proclaimed Trump to be the “last hope for America.”
Since the 1960’s, Schlafly has identified as a conservative, antifeminist. She led the anti-ERA campaign, “STOP” (stop taking away our privileges) throughout the 1970’s. Schlafly argued that the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment would eliminate all special privileges given to women (such as exemption from the draft or the “dependent wife clause” in social security benefits.) Overall she stressed that the patriarchal family structure is the ideal environment for a woman and shouldn’t be changed.
Schlafly’s support for Trump makes sense. What better candidate to take us back 60 years, where women were virtually powerless, than a misogynistic billionaire who only wishes to improve the lives of the richest men?
Her famous quotes will make any feminist cringe. Throughout her career, she’s criticized all aspects of women’s equality:
“What I am defending is the real rights of women. A woman should have the right to be in the home as a wife and mother.”
“Sex education classes are like in-home sales parties for abortions.”
“The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap.”
What?
As a young woman today, these ideas make no sense to me. Confining one gender to “traditional values” is not liberating but rather extremely constricting.
It also goes without saying that a Trump administration would hinder equality for more than just women. He continuously attacks religious and ethnic minorities in his speeches, most recently introducing a new plan to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.
Trumps campaign doesn’t stop there. Several white supremacist groups, such as the Knights Party have expressed their growing support for the candidate. Although the Trump campaign does not endorse said groups, the fact that they are supporting his policies illustrates how his platform fosters inequality.
Both the effects of Trump and Schlafly are similar. The two gain popularity by saying what extreme conservatives want to hear. They’ve gained support due to their tenacity and disregard for political correctness. The GOP frontrunner’s slogan, Make America Great Again relates to Schlafly’s most recent book titled, Who Killed the American Family?
A brash “Trump comment” seems to grace the headlines daily. Most recently, Trump has attacked Hillary Clinton. In a speech last week, he mocked Clinton’s loss to President Obama in 2008, using incredibly crude language.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, is the first woman to have a serious chance at securing a party nomination for president. This is monumental for women in politics and women all over the country pursuing male dominated professions. Yet while history is being made, Donald Trump continues to gain support from antifeminists such as Schlafly.
As we enter 2016, the year of the presidential election, the gap between the two parties continues to widen.
