Speaker at Candidate Fundraiser Equates Unmarried Women with Welfare Recipients

LANSING,MI – Citizens and women’s groups today denounced a right-wing speaker at a Republican candidate forum who likened unmarried, single women to welfare recipients and said the Republican candidate for Congress in Oakland County who hosted her speech should immediately renounce the outrageous remarks.

At a fundraiser for Andrew “Rocky” Raczkowski on Saturday in Troy, Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the right-wing group, Eagle Forum, said the Obama Administration is trying to win support by providing government relief to various groups.

At the fundraiser, Schlafly said: “Do you know what was the second biggest demographic group that voted for Obama? Obviously, the blacks were the biggest demographic group. Do you know what was the second biggest? Unmarried women! Seventy percent of unmarried women voted for Obama. And this is because when you kick your husband out, you gotta have big brother government to be your provider.”

“Phyllis Schlafly is an extremist who is out of touch with the struggles of countless women and men in Oakland County and throughout Michigan who are trying to survive in today’s tough economy,” said former State Representative Maxine Berman. “Apparently, Schlafly and Raczkowski believe that unmarried women—such as myself—are incapable of earning a living and must depend on a husband or the government to do so. They also obviously believe that women in abusive marriages should remain in them. If it is true that single women were the second largest demographic voting for Barack Obama, it is no doubt because they were repudiating the Bush/Schlafly/Raczkowski stereotypes of women. The truth is, there are millions of women and men across the nation who are trying to raise families single-handedly, often on one income. Andrew Raczkowski needs to denounce Phyllis Schlafly’s insensitive remarks and apologize to the thousands of single women in Oakland County struggling to raise families on their own from all walks of life.”

An audio tape of Schlafly’s remarks was obtained by Progress Michigan and recorded during her speech at a Raczkowski fundraiser Saturday in Troy at the American Polish Cultural Center. Raczkowski’s contributors, who paid $50 each to hear Schlafly, loudly applauded her remarks about unmarried women. Schlafly’s remarks about African Americans being the largest group of Obama supporters in the 2008 elections also appeared to continue an effort by some right-wing activists and commentators to stoke racial fears among whites. In fact, the largest demographic group to support President Obama in 2008 were white voters.

“Andrew Raczkowski owes it to the women and families of Oakland County to publicly repudiate Phyllis Schlafly’s misogynistic, misanthropic and malicious remarks immediately,” David Holtz, executive director of Progress Michigan said. “The people of Oakland County want solutions, not more scapegoating. Andrew Raczkowski must speak up for women, speak out against people like Phyllis Schlafly who condone heinous crimes against women and apologize for inviting a hateful, divisive speaker into the community.”

Schlafly is a conservative commentator who has promoted and defended controversial and outdated views on a range of topics, including those affecting women’s freedoms. In a March 2007 speech at Bates College, Schlafly said: “By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.” In a 2006 interview with the New York Times, Schlafly said improvements in women’s lives are the result of time-saving devices such as indoor clothes dryers and disposable diapers.

To hear the audio, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDeBsEg2Pzw