"Why should women be paid equal to men? Men have been in the working world a lot longer and deserve to be paid at a higher rate. Heck, I’m a working mom and I’m not paid a dime. I depend on my husband to provide for me and my family, as should most women… and if a woman does work, she should be happy just to be out there in the working world and quit complaining that she’s not making as much as her male counterparts. I mean really, all this wanting to be equal nonsense is going to be detrimental to the future of women everywhere. Who’s going to want to hire a woman, or for that matter, even marry a woman who thinks she is the same, if not better than a man at any job. It’s almost laughable. C’mon now ladies, are you with me on this?"[Emphasis mine]
— Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney
Well, Ann, I wouldn't marry a woman who did not have the confidence to believe that she was as good or better than a man. A woman should not have to be submissive to her husband. A marriage should be an equal partnership, with each member contributing according to their abilities and strengths.
Would you prefer that women give up the right to vote, too? Or should they simply follow their husbands' edicts about how to vote?
One of the things that has always perplexed me when I have visited the US is how 'different' it is in many ways, whilst being on the surface quite similar because its laws are largely based on the principles of English Common Law and of course because many use 'English' as a first language (of course the law in England is based on quite different principles to that in Scotland, but we 'rub along' with the two systems and hardly notice the contradictions). Certainly one of the things which I have always found particularly curious is the overt religiosity of a country which, in theory, keeps religion separate from public affairs and it would be completely extraordinary for the wife of any leading politician in the UK to echo the thoughts of Mrs Romney on the role of women in society, at least not for a century. It would be the 'kiss of death' for any leading British politician to refer to his/her religious beliefs, if any, whereas in the US it seems that any Presidential hopeful who even hinted that religion was of no importance to him/her would stand no chance. And the UK is the country that allots a constitutional role to religion both in England and in Scotland. It really is very curious - one country (the UK) pays lip service to religion, another country (the US) formally separates religion and government, but in practice is overtly religious, even in the wording on its banknotes.
ReplyDeleteI don't doubt, finally, that there will be millions of US voters who will empathise with the words of Mrs Romney; that is the really bizarre thing (I don't think she would have said this unless their political advisors had judged it to be not only 'safe', but necessary for their own supporters). Can one imagine Mrs Thatcher, Mrs Merkel or Mrs Gandhi voicing such opinions, or indeed Mrs Cameron or Mrs Blair? Decidedly odd.
Oh My God!
ReplyDeleteI just saw her interviewed by Brian Williams on NBC nightly news and she says she and Mitt are in total agreement on the issues so this must be his idea of equality too.
I wish I could make every woman voter in the country read that diatribe.
This coming from a woman who has been given everything she could possibly want by her millionaire husband, never worked a day in her life except to care for the children she and Mitt procreated. How do people this far removed from the reality of working for a living get to hold high office? It says much to explain the class warfare we are subjected to since the Reagan years.