"And of course, women must earn less than men. Because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent. They must earn less, that's all."
If you assumed this quote came from some Victorian-era book on femininity, sandwiched between chapters on corsets and putting your husband's needs first, I wouldn't blame you. Turns out, however, this ridiculously archaic view of the differences between men and women still exists today. In fact, it's held by a rather prominent foreign politician.
Polish nationalist Janusz Korwin-Mikke is a member of the European Parliament with a whole lot of opinions on how the world should work. One of those opinions, it seems, justifies the global gender-based wage gap. According to Korwin-Mikke, us women make less because we're just "weaker" and "less intelligent" than our male counterparts. Who knew such a widespread issue had such a simple explanation? Glad we figured that one out!
Thankfully, Korwin-Mikke's senseless comments were quickly met by plenty of opposition from fellow European Parliament members. The most vocal retort came from Spanish Socialist Iratxe Garcia-Perez, who clearly does not have time for Korwin-Mikke's nonsense.
"Look, according to your theory, I should not have the right to be here as a member of this parliament," Garcia-Perez, speaking in Spanish, said. "And I know it hurts you, I know it hurts and worries you that today women can sit in this house and represent European citizens with the same rights as you. I am here to defend all European women from men like you."
The president of the European Parliament is currently looking into Korwin-Mikke's comments to see if they broke the parliament's rules banning defamatory, racist or xenophobic language or behavior. If he is found guilty, this wouldn't be the first time. The parliament punished Korwin-Mikke in 2016 for calling immigrants to Europe "excrement." Back in 2015, he was suspended for making the Nazi salute during a session. Wow, what a gentleman.