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Why Ivanka Trump Isn’t Empowering Me

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WMU chapter.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Ivanka Trump is the oldest daughter of President Donald Trump. Ivanka is a well-known business woman and fashion designer…and now she has given herself the role of Woman’s spokesmen for the White House. While that’s all fine and dandy, I have a few problems with that.

Since her father was running for president, Ivanka has been very vocal about wanting to help women. Where I run into issues with that is the fact that her father seems to have different views on women, and not in a positive way. While Trump has been on record for saying some positive things about women, the list is not as long as the negative things he’s said.

The Week.com has made a list of the 51 things that Donald Trump has said about women, but I’m going to narrow it down to four and then get back to the point about this article.

 

To a female reporter: “We could say, politically correct, that look doesn’t matter, but the look obviously matters. Like you wouldn’t have your job if you weren’t beautiful.” [2014]

“I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” [2005]

“26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military — only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” [May 7, 2013]

“It’s certainly not groundbreaking news that the early victories by the women on The Apprentice were, to a very large extent, dependent on their sex appeal.” [2004]

 

Where I start to run into my problem with Ivanka is the fact that she has defended her father on numerous occasions. One time in particular was during an October 2016 interview with Megyn Kelley.

 

“My father can be an equal-opportunity offender. If somebody says something against him, he will speak his mind. And he treats women equal to how he treats men. He’s said plenty of rough things about men over the years, and I discourage him from doing that, as I discourage him from doing that with women… He views all people equally — men or women, it doesn’t matter — and he treats them accordingly. And I think we’ve seen that. He’s very authentic, and he’ll tell anyone, man or woman, what he’s thinking and how he feels.”

 

WOW!!! I have so many issues to what Ivanka has said. My number one being that “if somebody says something against him, he will speak his mind.” Okay Ivanka, that’s just not true. I understand that the man is your father but don’t lie. I’m pretty sure the examples I gave all of you reading this up top didn’t involve any of those women “saying something against him.”

 

Ivanka is also on the record for saying her father is not sexist because he hired her. “He’s absolutely not a sexist…I would not be one of his senior-most executives and I would not be working shoulder to shoulder with my brothers. I would be working for my brothers if at all. I think actions ultimately speak louder than words. My father has 40 years of history of employing women.”  Look Ivanka, just because your father hired you and other women doesn’t mean he can’t be sexist.

 

One of the bigger issues I have with Ivanka leads more towards politics. I was going to try and avoid politics in this article, but it seems that I can’t, so sorry about that. On February 13, 2016, Ivanka tweeted this statement along with this picture…

As Trevor Noah put it, “your dad let you sit at his desk! That’s not a woman in power, it’s take your daughter to work day.”  It’s so funny that Ivanka thinks her dad is all about women in the workforce and “having a seat at the table”, as he has a cabinet made up with white men.

I could continue going on about this but I won’t, I’ll get to the point. Ivanka is not empowering me in the slightest. She’s making me mad, is what she is doing. Her father has said some awful, unforgiving things, and while that’s not her fault, she’s still defending him and making excuses as to why he’s saying/said those things.  Let’s also factor in the fact that Ivanka did not once Tweet or speak out about the Women’s March that occurred on January 22, 2016. That march was all about women empowerment and she didn’t make a single statement about it. She claims to want women to have equal rights, but it seems she only cares if it’s something her father is behind.

 

Hi!!!  I'm Kaitlyn Sulka, I am a senior at Western Michigan University and I'm studying journalism with a minor in history (Horray for history)!! When I'm not in school, bossing my co-workers around or hanging out with the best dog in the world (yes, my dog is better than yours), you will find me doing basic white girl things like drinking wine (Moscato in case you were all wondering) and watching the Bachelor. I also enjoy kickboxing, yoga, SoulCycling, dancing (no not in the club) and running...so yeah I'm pretty badass. Okay that's all! XOXO, Gossip Girl ;)
I am a senior at Western Michigan University studying all sorts of things. Film, Video, and Media Studies Major with minors in Journalism and English: Rhetoric and Writing Studies. I can basically do it all.. You can normally find me dancing my booty off to live music, yelling at the Detroit Red Wings through the TV screen or trying to be crafty. I like to write. I like to take photographs of nature on my fancy camera. And I like to pet my cat.