Family
Schlafly acknowledges that motherhood and family life are difficult, but contends that the family is still the place of greatest growth and satisfaction for women. Schlafly rejects what she claims is the feminist view that the family is an “anachronism” that binds women down. Instead, she says, “Faith, commitment, hard work, family, and children, and grandchildren still offer the most fulfillment, as well as our reach into the future. Feminism is no substitute for traditional marriage…Careers are no substitute for children and grandchildren”. The family doesn’t destroy women’s rights; rather, according to Schlafly, the institution of the family as “the basic unit of society…is the greatest single achievement in the entire history of women’s rights”.
Schlafly believes that the family supports society as its meets women’s needs: “The strength and stability of families determines the vitality and moral life of society; thus, as the family goes, so goes the nation”. The family, as well as standing “at the center of this world” and “representing the building block of society,” also teaches children “moral values” that will benefit them and society as they grow to become moral citizens. Schlafly states unequivocally that “the future of our nation depends on children who grow up to be good citizens, and the best way of achieving that goal is to have emotionally stable, intact families”.
Schlafly rejects the 70s and 80s-era feminist “rejection of the family” as an outdated establishment, which she believes “flies in the face of all human experience”; instead, she believes that “the family is the proven best way for men and women to live together on this earth. A family provides people who care about us, a nest and shelter from which we can face life’s challenges”.
Read more about this topic: Phyllis Schlafly's Social Policies
Famous quotes containing the word family:
“Blackmail is one of the great pastimes of family life.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Some [adolescent] girls are depressed because they have lost their warm, open relationship with their parents. They have loved and been loved by people whom they now must betray to fit into peer culture. Furthermore, they are discouraged by peers from expressing sadness at the loss of family relationships—even to say they are sad is to admit weakness and dependency.”
—Mary Pipher (20th century)
“If you are a genius and unsuccessful, everybody treats you as if you were a genius, but when you come to be successful, when you commence to earn money, when you are really successful, then your family and everybody no longer treats you like a genius, they treat you like a man who has become successful.”
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)