Gloria Steinem Explains Why Ivanka Trump Isn’t A Feminist
Try to put the name Ivanka Trump in the same sentence as feminist, and you’ll get an earful from Gloria Steinem.
During an interview with Refinery29, the activist was asked if she thought the president’s daughter was co-opting feminism — to which Steinem replied: “Nobody on earth thinks she’s a feminist, are you kidding me?”
The 83-year-old pointed out that Trump has not taken a pro-choice stand, and then criticized her take on maternity leave.
“I saw her being interviewed by Cosmopolitan, and she was asked about her maternity leave policy, but it’s only if you physically give birth,” Steinem said. “It’s not for adoptive parents, not for fathers.”
Steinem also shook her finger at Trump’s decision to promptly end the interview, after the Cosmopolitan reporter tried to ask follow-up questions.
The president’s daughter maternity leave policy, she added, has darker roots.
“That happens to be the same policy as every authoritarian regime on Earth that I know of, including Hitler’s Germany,” Steinem said. “I’m not saying that she knows this, but [the Nazis] were paying women to have children. By accident, perhaps, that’s her policy.”
Thea Glassman is an Associate Editor at the Forward. Reach her at glassman@forward.com or on Twitter at @theakglassman.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO