As expected the 2018 the Grammy Music Awards were filled with anti-Trump political commentary with the most notable moment being Hillary Clinton’s short cameo, in which she red Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury”. In his book, among other false accusations, Wolff claimed that President Trump was having an affair with Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Shortly after Clinton’s appearance, Ambassador Haley tweeted:
Haley, being the daughter of immigrants from India, managed to become the first female Governor of the state of South Carolina until she was appointed by President Trump to lead the US delegation to the UN. She has been one of the strongest voices in the UN Assembly, fighting for human rights not just in the United States but across the world. When attacked my a huge number of nations for recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel, she persisted and firmly kept her position. So why would feminists choose to remain silent while a major and very much accomplished female political figure is being falsely accused of sleeping her way to power? Is it because she is a Republican?
Ambassador Haley is not the only right-of-center woman who has been looked down on by or who has not received the sufficient amount of praise by the modern day feminist movement. For instance, President Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Kellyanne Conway became the very first female to lead a presidential campaign to victory. Instead of focusing on her accomplishments, the mainstream media decided to undermine her success by accusing her of “playing the woman card”. In addition other right of center women with powerful positions such as Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, Ivanka Trump, Sec. Betsy DeVos and RNC chairwoman Ronna Romney-McDaniel are either looked down on or ridiculed.
Unfortunately, conservative female politicians and public figures are not the only ones unwelcome in today’s feminist movement. A good example of this exclusion would be demonstrated through the Women’s March. Initially, a pro-life grouped named the New Wave Feminists where an official partner of the march however the backlash they experienced by other feminist groups, for their stance against abortion, was intense forcing them to be dropped as sponsors.
In addition one of the organizers of the Women’s March, Linda Sarsour, has been quite controversial figure. Sarsour, being a harsh critic of Israel implied that there is no room for pro-Israel women in the march by stating that “You either stand up for the rights of all women, including Palestinians, or none.” In 2011 Sarsour tweeted the following:
In this tweet, Sarsour equates Ayaan Hirshi Ali, a woman who has experienced genital mutilation, to Brigitte Gabriel, the leader of the controversial Act for America lobbying group, by stating that these two women should have their genitals taken away. It is important to note that Sarsour was recently accused of enabling sexual assault against woman who worked for by stating that the alleged perpetrator was just being a “good Muslim”. In the meantime, Sarsour has been celebrated by feminists across the country.
March is the month dedicated to women’s history and marking the achievements of some women at the expense of others would be hypocritical. Each woman is unique and what matters to her may not matter as much to another woman. Just because a woman believes that life begins at conception or happened to believe that Donald Trump was a better candidate than Hillary Clinton does not make her any less of a woman. Implying that all women ought to conform to the same belief system and support a certain set of policies is an ugly form of sexism.