Belva Lockwood Quotes
If women are given equal pay for Civil Service jobs, maybe other employers will do the same.
The strategy of pushing for equal treatment in Government employment first so as to influence the private employment sector developed by Lockwood was employed almost 80 years later by American Blacks in the Civil Rights movement.
Belva Lockwood, 1830-1917, Attorney & Feminist, Presidential Candidate, Equal Rights Party, Quoted in Fox, Lady for the Defense, 1975
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Although the situation improved over time, all employers do not pay equal wages, although the laws now require equal pay.
This is one of the earliest expressions of the now famous phrase.
Even today, her simple bluntness about such a sensitive subject is jarring. Imagine how it appeared in 1867 when this was a foreign idea which when broached by a woman, or even a man, was phrased delicately and discreetly. And yet, her phraseology was virtually impossible to argue against.
Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood was an American attorney, politician, educator, and author. She was active in working for women's rights, including women's suffrage. Lockwood overcame many social and personal obstacles related to gender restrictions. After college, she became a teacher and principal, working to equalize pay for women in education. She supported the movement for world peace, and was a proponent of the Temperance movement.