by Luke Lee '20
When Mr. Trump became president, most women were definitely not happy about it. Here’s why.
During his campaign, President Trump made so many disrespectful comments about women, causing people to wonder if he was serious or not. The most famous of those comments is when he verbally attacked Megyn Kelly by saying “blood coming from her wherever,” referring to a period. Unfortunately, Megyn is not the only female victim attacked by Trump. He has mentioned that Gail Collins, New York Times columnist, had a “face of a dog.” He would go on by calling breastfeeding women “disgusting,” disdaining all the moms in the country.
Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise for Americans to see Trump not being passionate when talking about issues concerning women’s rights as when he was criticizing China for taking away jobs from American workers. These are his thoughts about women’s rights.
When asked about paid family leave: “I think we have to keep our country very competitive, so you have to be careful of it.”
When asked about equal pay: “When you have to categorize men and women into a particular group and a particular pay scale, it gets very — because people do different jobs.”
So when he was elected, many women felt compelled to do something about these issues. As a result, many brave women across the nation were inspired to run for public office. And the numbers speak for themselves.
More than 19,000 women have contacted Emily’s List (organization helping “pro-Democratic” female candidates);
43 women are running for seats in Virginia House of Delegates to represent Democratic Party of the 43, 23 women are running in public election for the FIRST TIME. EVER;
There is a 60% increase in women running for public office;
About 16000 trainees signed up for She Should Run (another organization that helps women run for public elections).
In order to have more women’s voices in legislature and build laws that protect women’s rights, many brave women are taking a bold action. But even if the candidates don’t get elected, the female “justice league” will not back down. “If we want to see equity for women in government in our lifetime, we have to have record-breaking election cycles in the next few cycles to come. We know this isn't going to happen overnight, but we cannot let off the gas right now." Erin Loos Cutraro, CEO of She Should Run, said with determination.