From Phyllis Schlafly, The Positive Woman (1977)

Phyllis Schlafly headed the strongest wing of the anti-feminist and anti-ERA movement. Schlafly had led anti-communist campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s, campaigns that made her a superb organizer, and heo was a significant factor in the defeat of the ERA. She tapped a grassroots movement mainly located in evangelical protestant churches in support of her views about the centrality of traditional family life to the future of the nation. Compare her views to those of Steinem.

It is self-evident to the Positive Woman that the female body with its baby-producing organs was not designed by a conspiracy of men but by the Divine Architect of the human race. Those who think it is unfair that women have babies, whereas men cannot, will have to take up their complaint with God because no other power is capable of changing that fundamental fact. On some college campuses, I have been assured that other methods of reproduction will be developed. But most of us must deal with the real world rather than with the imagination of dreamers.

Another feature of the woman's natural role is the obvious fact that women can breast-feed babies and men cannot. This functional role was not imposed by conspiratorial males seeking So burden women with confining chores, but must be recognized as part of the plan of the Divine Architect for the survival of the human race through the centuries and in the countries that know no pasteurization of milk or sterilization of bottles.

The Positive Woman looks upon her femaleness and her fertility as part of her purpose, her potential, and her power. She rejoices that she has a capability for creativity that men can never have.

T'he third basic dogma of the women's liberation movement is that there is no difference between male and female except the sex organs, and that all those physical, cognitive, and emotional differences you think are there, are merely the result of centuries of restraints imposed by a male-dominated society and sex-stereotyped schooling. The role imposed on women is, by definition, inferior, according to the women's liberationists.

The Positive Woman knows that, while there are some physical competitions in which women are better (and can command more money) than men, including those that put a premium on grace and beauty, such as figure skating, the superior physical strength of males over females in competitions of strength, speed, and short-term endurance is beyond rational dispute....

The Positive Woman remembers the essential validity of the old prayer: "Lord, give me the strength to change what I can change, the serenity to accept what I cannot change, and the wisdom to discern the difference." The women's liberationists are expending their time and energies erecting a make- believe world in which they hypothesize that if schooling were gender-free, and if the same money were spent on male and female sports programs, and if women were permitted to compete on equal terms, then they would prove them- selves to be physically equal. Meanwhile, the Positive Woman has put the in- eradicable physical, differences into her mental computer, programmed her plan of action, and is already on the way to personal achievement....

The Positive Woman recognizes the fact that, when it comes to sex, women are simply not the equal of men. The sexual drive of men is much stronger than that of women. That is how the human race was designed in order that it might perpetuate itself The other side of the coin is that it is easier for women to control their sexual appetites. A Positive Woman cannot defeat a man in a wrestling or boxing match, but she can motivate him, inspire him, encourage him, teach him, restrain him, reward him, and have power over him that he can never achieve over her with all his muscle. How or whether a Positive Woman uses her power is determined solely by the way she alone defines her goals and develops her skills.

The differences between men and women are also emotional and psychological. Without woman's innate maternal instinct, the human race would have died out centuries ago. There is nothing so helpless in all earthly life as the newbom infant. It will die within hours if not cared for. Even in the most primitive, uneducated societies, women have always cared for their newborn babies. They didn't need any schooling to teach them how. They didn't need any welfare workers to tell them it is their social obligation. Even in societies to whom such concepts as "ought," "social responsibility," and "compassion for the help- less" were unknown, mothers cared for their new babies.

Why? Because caring for a baby serves the natural maternal need of a woman. Although not nearly so total as the baby's need, the woman's need is nonetheless real. The overriding psychological need of a woman is to love something alive. A baby fulfills this need in the lives of most women. If a baby is not available to fill that need, women search for a baby-substitute. This is the reason why women have traditionally gone into teaching and nursing careers. They are doing what comes naturally to the female psyche. The schoolchild or the patient of any age provides an outlet for a woman to express her natural maternal need.

This maternal need in women is the reason why mothers whose children have grown up and flown from the nest are sometimes cut loose from their psychological moorings. The maternal need in women can show itself in love for grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or even neighbors' children. The maternal need in some women has even manifested itself in an extraordinary affection lavished on a dog, a cat, or a parakeet.

This is not to say that every woman must have a baby in order to be fulfilled. But it is to say that fulfillment for most women involves expressing their natural maternal urge by loving and caring for someone.

The women's liberation movement complains that traditional stereotyped roles assume that women are "passive" and that men are "aggressive." The anomaly is that a woman's most fundamental emotional need is not passive at all, but active. A woman naturally seeks to love affirmatively and to show that love in an active way by caring for the object of her affections.

he Positive Woman finds somebody on whom she can lavish her maternal love so that it doesn't well up inside her and cause psychological frustrations. Surely no woman is so isolated by geography or insulated by spirit that she cannot find someone worthy of her maternal love. All persons, men and women, gain by sharing something of themselves with their fellow humans, but women profit most of all because it is part of their very nature....

Here is a starting checklist of goals that can be restored to America if Positive Women will apply their dedicated efforts:

(1) The right of a woman to be a full-time wife and mother and to have this right recognized by laws that obligate her husband to provide the primary financial support and a home for her and their children.

(2) The responsibility of parents (not the government) for the care of preschool children.

(3) The right of parents to insist that the schools: a. permit voluntary prayer,

b. teach the "fourth R," right and wrong, according to the precepts of Holy Scriptures,

c. use textbooks that do not offend the religious and moral values of the parents,

d. use textbooks that honor the family, monogamous marriage, woman's role as wife and mother, and man's role as provider and protector,

e. teach such basic educational skills as reading and arithmetic before time and money are spent on frills,

permit children to attend school in their own neighborhood, and

g. separate the sexes for gym classes, athletic practice and competition, and academic and vocational classes, if so desired.

(4) The right of employers to give job preference (where qualifications are equal) to a wage earner supporting dependents.

(5) The right of a woman engaged in physical-labor employment to be protected by laws and regulations that respect the physical differences and different family obligations of men and women.

(6) The right to equal opportunity in employment and education for all per- sons regardless of race, creed, sex, or national origin.

(7) The right to have local governments prevent the display of printed or pictorial materials that degrade women in a pornographic, perverted, or sadistic manner.

(8) The right to defend the institution of the family by according certain rights to husbands and wives that are not given to those choosing immoral lifestyles.

(9) The right to life of all innocent persons from conception to natural death.

(10) The right of citizens to live in a community where state and local government and judges maintain law and order by a system of justice under due process and punishment that is swift and certain.

(I 1) The right of society to protect itself by designating different roles for men and women in the armed forces, and police and fire departments where necessary.

(12) The right of citizens to have the federal government adequately provide for the common defense against aggression by any other nation.