Schlafly’s anti-feminism appealed to working-class women facing poor jobs

Evidence

Don’t be fooled, Schlafly warned her readers. Employment opportunities, equal pay for equal work—all of this was “only a sweet syrup which covers the deadly poison masquerading as ‘women’s lib.’” Women’s libbers were radicals waging war on marriage, children, and the family—they promoted free sex, “Federal ‘day-care centers’ for babies instead of homes,” and “abortions instead of families.” What feminists failed to understand, she argued, was that women liked to be housewives and homemakers. Besides, women’s employment in offices and on assembly lines was hardly something to strive for: “Most women would rather cuddle a baby than a typewriter or a factory machine.” Her message resonated not only with religious women but also with many working-class women for whom the labor market offered unfulfilling work and low pay. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 159

Categorization

• XREF: An economic-class reading of the anti-feminist coalition — connects to the reader’s assessment of whether militant masculinity was transmitted through consumer culture or through material economic grievance. — connects to: Schlafly linked anti-communism with opposition to feminism in New Right ideology — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 240