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Equal Rights For Women Famous Speech by Shirley Chisholm
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Equal Rights For Women Famous Speech by Shirley Chisholm
Address To The United States House Of Representatives, Washington, DC:
May 21, 1969
Mr. Speaker, when a young woman
graduates from college and starts looking for a job, she is likely to have
a frustrating and even demeaning experience ahead of her. If she walks
into an office for an interview, the first question she will be asked is,
"Do you type?''
There is a calculated system of prejudice that lies unspoken behind that
question. Why is it acceptable for women to be secretaries, librarians,
and teachers, but totally unacceptable for them to be managers,
administrators, doctors, lawyers, and Members of Congress.
The unspoken assumption is that women are different. They do not have
executive ability orderly minds, stability, leadership skills, and they
are too emotional.
It has been observed before, that society for a long time, discriminated
against another minority, the blacks, on the same basis - that they were
different and inferior. The happy little homemaker and the contented "old
darkey" on the plantation were both produced by prejudice.
As a black person, I am no stranger to race prejudice. But the truth is
that in the political world I have been far oftener discriminated against
because I am a woman than because I am black.
Prejudice against blacks is becoming unacceptable although it will take
years to eliminate it. But it is doomed because, slowly, white America is
beginning to admit that it exists. Prejudice against women is still
acceptable. There is very little understanding yet of the immorality
involved in double pay scales and the classification of most of the better
jobs as "for men only."
More than half of the population of the United States is female. But women
occupy only 2 percent of the managerial positions. They have not even
reached the level of tokenism yet No women sit on the AFL-CIO council or
Supreme Court There have been only two women who have held Cabinet rank,
and at present there are none. Only two women now hold ambassadorial rank
in the diplomatic corps. In Congress, we are down to one Senator and 10
Representatives.
Considering that there are about 3 1/2 million more women in the United
States than men, this situation is outrageous.
It is true that part of the problem has been that women have not been
aggressive in demanding their rights. This was also true of the black
population for many years. They submitted to oppression and even
cooperated with it. Women have done the same thing. But now there is an
awareness of this situation particularly among the younger segment of the
population.
As in the field of equal rights for blacks, Spanish-Americans, the
Indians, and other groups, laws will not change such deep-seated problems
overnight But they can be used to provide protection for those who are
most abused, and to begin the process of evolutionary change by compelling
the insensitive majority to reexamine it's unconscious attitudes.
It is for this reason that I wish to introduce today a proposal that has
been before every Congress for the last 40 years and that sooner or later
must become part of the basic law of the land -- the equal rights
amendment.
Let me note and try to refute two of the commonest arguments that are
offered against this amendment. One is that women are already protected
under the law and do not need legislation. Existing laws are not adequate
to secure equal rights for women. Sufficient proof of this is the
concentration of women in lower paying, menial, unrewarding jobs and their
incredible scarcity in the upper level jobs. If women are already equal,
why is it such an event whenever one happens to be elected to Congress?
It is obvious that discrimination exists. Women do not have the
opportunities that men do. And women that do not conform to the system,
who try to break with the accepted patterns, are stigmatized as ''odd''
and "unfeminine." The fact is that a woman who aspires to be chairman of
the board, or a Member of the House, does so for exactly the same reasons
as any man. Basically, these are that she thinks she can do the job and
she wants to try.
A second argument often heard against the equal rights amendment is that
is would eliminate legislation that many States and the Federal Government
have enacted giving special protection to women and that it would throw
the marriage and divorce laws into chaos.
As for the marriage laws, they are due for a sweeping reform, and an
excellent beginning would be to wipe the existing ones off the books.
Regarding special protection for working women, I cannot understand why it
should be needed. Women need no protection that men do not need. What we
need are laws to protect working people, to guarantee them fair pay, safe
working conditions, protection against sickness and layoffs, and provision
for dignified, comfortable retirement. Men and women need these things
equally. That one sex needs protection more than the other is a male
supremacist myth as ridiculous and unworthy of respect as the white
supremacist myths that society is trying to cure itself of at this time.
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Equal Rights For Women Famous Speech by Shirley Chisholm
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