Women’s Rights | For many women, Trump’s election is progress

For Americans on the left, it is clear: the women who voted for Donald Trump voted against their own interests.

Liberal women, in particular, are in shock, incredulous that other women could have rejected Kamala Harris, who would have been the first woman to lead the United States. They criticize them for having chosen – for the second time – a candidate who seems happy to display his misogyny.

According to a Maine voter, “the sorority missed a historic meeting”; it’s a feeling shared by many women.

In many ways, the election result appears to negate generations of progress toward gender equality and feminism in general. Women have advanced in nearly every area of ​​American life in recent decades, making up a larger share of the workforce, holding well-paid jobs, and outpacing men in higher education—although they remain underrepresented at the top of business and government.

Mr. Trump won a decisive victory thanks to his campaign pitting men against women, his interviews with sexist podcasts and his choice of a running mate who called single women “childless cat ladies.” Mr. Trump took credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned abortion rights, but without paying the full price in the voting booth. After the election, men posted messages on social media like “your body, my choice.”

But it is clear that the female electorate was divided. According to polls, 45% of female voters voted for Trump, and among them, many more white than black. The double failure of M^me Harris and Hillary Clinton highlight an uncomfortable but enduring truth in American society: women don’t necessarily agree on the definition of progress.

For Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a conservative organization, Mr. Trump’s election “liberates women from the dark days of so-called feminism” and represents “true American feminism.”

According to her, the choice of Susie Wiles as chief of staff heralds a series of firsts and measures that will be beneficial for women.

Since the election, female solidarity itself seems to have fractured. To date, there are no plans for another major women’s demonstration in Washington, like the one that followed Mr. Trump’s first election in 2016. Liberals criticize conservatives for supporting a notorious womanizer found responsible of sexual abuse against columnist E. Jean Carroll. Black women criticize white women for having betrayed them by voting for a candidate who made not only sexist, but racist remarks.

Jamila K. Taylor, CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a think tank that advocates for gender equality, tried to decipher how women in some states were able to vote to protect abortion rights while by voting for Mr. Trump. She deduces that part of the electorate was not comfortable voting for M^me Harris because she is black.

“It must be said: there is misogyny, racism and sexism. »

The myth of sisterhood

For scholars who study the causes of women and women leaders, the concept of sisterhood – female solidarity – is a myth deeply rooted in American history. However, among the fiercest opponents of women’s rights, there have always been women, during the suffragist movement, racial integration and the legalization of abortion.

“Women are not a bloc,” says Lisa Levenstein, director of the women’s, gender and sexuality studies program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “They never have been and never will be. »

The suffrage movement during the 1900s had groups led by women among its main opponents. White mothers were at the forefront of the fight against school desegregation. In the 1970s, Phyllis Schlafly ridiculed feminists and glorified women’s traditional roles during her fight against the Equal Rights Amendment, saying it would lead to the disintegration of traditional American society.

Despite this, Mr. Trump’s return to power comes as a shock to many in a country where popular culture celebrates the struggles and successes of women.

The America of 2024 is full of symbols celebrating feminism. During her summer tour, Beyoncé sang to huge crowds: “Who Runs the World? The girls. » Taylor Swift sold out audiences everywhere denouncing sexism. The movie Barbie filled theaters in red states and blue states, inviting viewers to see the impossible-curvy doll become a feminist icon.

Except that popular culture is not political culture: the fault lines between women were evident during the campaign.

In Nebraska, female college athletes filmed a television ad supporting a referendum to restrict abortion rights (yes won). Well-dressed women from a charismatic evangelical Christian church in North Carolina followed Mr. Trump during his campaign rallies.

What is autonomy?

Recently, the movement of translators is spreading across social media, celebrating the return to traditional roles of submissive wives, a trend treated as a curiosity by mainstream media.

But for women who stay at home – often because available jobs pay less for equal work – focusing on family and supporting a working husband is an act of empowerment in itself.

“Discrimination and wage inequality are still very present: we understand why some women want to contribute to the social status of their husbands,” explains Katherine Turk, historian of the second wave of feminism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Non-feminist women have a different idea of ​​what a fulfilling life and meaningful choices mean. »

This year again, women expressed their discomfort with the idea of ​​a woman being president.

“I’m a woman and I’m probably a contrarian, but in my opinion it takes a man to deal with foreign countries,” said Lynn Lewis, of Old Fort, North Carolina, who voted Trump.

During the campaign, Donald Trump promised to protect women, “whether women like it or not.” Some were offended, but others appreciated it. M^me Lewis, 60, said he feared foreign leaders would try to intimidate a female president.

“There are things that men should lead,” she said.

Uneven progress

Women’s advances over the decades have not benefited all women, several historians of the feminist movement note; rather, they improved the prospects of privileged women. Thus, the fight for equality before the law gave women with the means to study access to well-paid jobs. This is one of the reasons why women do not all have the same expectations of elected officials.

During the presidential campaign, some women said they particularly appreciated Mr. Trump’s support of their role as mothers.

Conservative women have pointed out that transgender ideology takes away mothers’ power to make decisions for their children. Some believe Mr. Trump will support their position that parents, not the government, should decide whether children should be vaccinated. Others hope that tightening borders will reduce access to fentanyl (even though most known fentanyl traffickers are Americans passing through legal ports of entry, not migrants). Some also said that food inflation is an affront to mothers who feed their families, and that they believe Mr. Trump can stem it.

During his campaign, M^me Harris reached out to mothers with a package of policies aimed at helping parents.

Anne-Marie Slaughter became known through an article published in The Atlantic on the pitfalls that face mothers who want to obtain advancement at work. Previously, she focused her gender equality efforts on professional issues, but now she believes that the plight of women who care for others is just as important.

She calls for a feminism that embraces work and family, but she recognizes that there will be much debate and arbitration to determine what is reasonable. “I wouldn’t go so far as to include control over all of my children’s choices, but it’s a complicated issue. »

This article was published in the New York Times.

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