Ivanka Trump should stand up for American women

Ivanka+Trump%2C+Donald+Trumps+daughter%2C+answers+questions+from+the+audience+during+a+campaign+stop+in+Drexel+Hill%2C+Pa.%2C+on+October+13%2C+2016.+Are+women+snubbing+Trumps+apparel+and+accessories+brand+because+of+the+sins+of+her+father%3F+%28Michael+Bryant%2FPhiladelphia+Inquirer%2FTNS%29

TNS

Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter, answers questions from the audience during a campaign stop in Drexel Hill, Pa., on October 13, 2016. Are women snubbing Trump’s apparel and accessories brand because of the sins of her father? (Michael Bryant/Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)

By Jamie Linton, Columnist

lintonjamie_cutoutIvanka Trump: upscale fashion designer, author, former model, Ivy League graduate, mother, President-elect Donald Trump’s 35-year-old daughter and a disappointment to our country.

Like the majority of the adult-age Trump children, she has played a pivotal role in the management of Trump businesses and, most recently, his presidential campaign.

When a brand receives bad publicity, say, sexist or racist public remarks, its profits tend to suffer.  An entire movement arose against the Ivanka Trump brand based on her father’s abhorrent rhetoric after she spoke at the National Republican Convention in July of this year.

Her speech promised to enforce feminist ideals that she has worked to promote since her first book was released in 2009: closing the gender pay gap, instituting paid maternity leave and resolving discrimination against working mothers — values that people fear we will lose during Trump’s presidency.

I’m disappointed in her.  I’m disappointed that a competent, intelligent, millennial businesswoman who graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania ignored the advantage that her multi-billionaire background and public platform afforded her, and instead chose to support a man who is blatantly sexist, racist and predatory.  Especially when the values that this man promotes are so out of line with everything Ivanka’s brand represents.

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Ivanka has vocalized that she believes in the implementation of “policies that allow women with children to thrive,” yet she supports a President-elect who has pledged to defund Planned Parenthood despite recognizing the millions of women who have benefited from it.

Although she has apologized for Donald Trump’s vehemently “inappropriate and offensive” remarks against women in a 2005 audio tape, she remains an integral part in the maintenance of Trump’s all-American family facade.

Additionally, Ivanka supports a President-elect who has a jaded idea of the difficulties of childcare and has yet to establish a concrete stance on equal pay — pressing issues for both herself and the target audience of her brand.

Some may claim that blood is thicker than water, but one would expect that by this point in Ivanka’s life, she would grow exhausted of her role as Donald Trump’s “piece of ass” and utilize her place in the public eye to shape her father’s malleable stance on women’s rights.

As First Daughter and a woman who has stressed “the importance of positive values and a strong ethical compass,” we should hope that Ivanka will strive to stay consistent in working toward affording women the rights they deserve.  Considering her father has yet to establish a concrete plan in terms of equal pay, childcare and paid maternity leave, we must urge Ivanka to rally for the women she claims to represent.

After all, if we can’t trust some of the most powerful women in the world to use their privileges to their advantage and stay consistent in their values, how are we supposed to instill social change?

During a time when 47 percent of voters elected to further the marginalization of women, people of color and immigrant groups, unity and consistency within women and minorities are key. I hope Ivanka will come to her senses and join the fight.

Jamie is a freshman in Media.

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