Obama’s War on Women

Obama's War on Women
by Phyllis Schlafly
April 18, 2012

Hilary Rosen's attack on Mrs. Ann Romney by saying that (although she raised five children) she "never worked a day in her life" perfectly fits the definition of a gaffe. A gaffe is a statement that reveals what the spokesperson really thinks but turns out to be embarrassing when it is publicly discussed.

In this case, the embarrassment fell on the Obama Administration, so his campaign operatives immediately tried to create political distance between Obama and Rosen. They were not successful. The media refer to her as a "Democratic strategist" or "political analyst."

Rosen visited the Obama White House 35 times. That frequency may be exceeded only by visits from SEIU union boss Andy Stern.

Rosen is a managing director of a political consulting firm called SKDKnickerbocker, one of whose founders is Anita Dunn, who was Obama's Communications Czar leading Obama's war on Fox News. Dunn is memorable for having said that Mao Tse-tung is one of her two favorite "political philosophers" whom "I turn to most" for answers to important questions.

Although Rosen finally issued a lame apology for the insult, she had said what she meant and meant what she said. Even after her remark about Ann Romney boomeranged, Rosen continued with the same line for hours on Twitter, in an online column, and in television appearances.

Rosen's gaffe was no mistake; it is what the feminists really think about any mother who would say, as Ann Romney said, "My career choice was to be a mother." The big mama of feminism who is revered in college women's studies courses, Simone de Beauvoir, famously said, "No woman should be authorized to stay at home and raise her children. Women should not have that choice, precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make that one."

That's exactly what feminists think. The strident voices that demand "choice" do not believe women should have the choice to be a homemaker rather than work a paid job in the labor force.

For an updated statement of this feminist dogma, refer to Linda Hirshman. She wrote that "The tasks of housekeeping and child-rearing are not worthy of the full time and talents of intelligent and educated human beings."

Obama said that Republicans are waging a "war on women," but that's a completely contrived issue. The real war on women is by feminists who demean women who choose the career path of homemaker and mislead young women into believing that a job in the workforce will be more significant and rewarding than marriage and motherhood (in that order).

The most scholarly book written about the feminist movement by a non-feminist is "Domestic Tranquility" by Carolyn Graglia. She read all those tiresome books and articles by the feminist leaders, Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer, Kate Millett, Gloria Steinem, and Simone de Beauvoir, and concluded that the principal goal of feminism from the get-go has been "the status degradation of the housewife's role."

Mrs. Graglia documented the fact that all branches of feminism are united in the conviction that a woman can find identity and fulfillment only by a career in the workforce. Betty Friedan said the stay-at-home mom is a "parasite" living in a "comfortable concentration camp." Gloria Steinem said, "you become a semi-nonperson when you get married."

This devaluing of the role of mother and fulltime homemaker is imbedded in the psyche of the feminists who are major players in the Obama Administration. Don't forget that when the feminists started their movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, they called themselves the women's liberation movement, i.e., their goal was to be liberated from home, husband, and children.

Feminists believe that society's expectation that mothers should care for their own children illustrates the oppression of women by the patriarchy. That's why legislating taxpayer-funded daycare as an entitlement for all is a major and longtime feminist goal.

Longtime? Absolutely. The feminists are still crying on television about President Richard Nixon's 1971 veto of the Mondale-Brademas Daycare bill. Government-financed daycare was one of the hot-button demands endorsed at the International Women's Year conference in November 1977, along with the Equal Rights Amendment, taxpayer-funded abortions, and the entire gay agenda.

The feminists showed their clout in the Obama Administration when they got him to rule that ObamaCare must force all employers to pay for sterilization, abortion drugs, and contraception even when contrary to their religious beliefs. The feminists were able to override the objections of all Obama's experienced political advisers who warned that this would alienate large blocs of voters who care about religious liberty.