Just Give Women Their Rights Already.

What, like it's hard?

This administration isn’t just eroding women’s health and rights with a sledgehammer, it’s also destroying the face of women’s leadership. Lack of women appointees, on top of all the incompetent men in powerful positions, sends a dangerous message that women don’t belong in power and when they are, it’s a joke.

Of course, this doesn’t include White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, who I think we can all agree wields more power than maybe even POTUS himself? But the rest of the (bleach blonde) women in Trump’s cabinet, like White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, and United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi. Will it get me deported to suggest that these women serve more as public relations tools for Trump than women with actual say in the direction of their leadership? Are they really in charge of the statements they make to the public or the policy being shaped (slaughtered?) behind the scenes of the Oval?

But aside from putting white, blonde women in high profile positions, with very little leverage behind their important titles, and distracting us from the real issues American women are struggling with, the positioning of women in this administration says a few things loud and clear: Be seen, be blonde, and just give birth. Stop whining about and demanding your human rights.

My question is, why can't America give women what they want? Why can’t we give women affordable childcare, paid leave, equal pay and access to birth control? Is it so difficult? Other countries are doing it with no problem, even ones with massive Catholic traditions.

For example, though access remains “patchy,” Ireland legalized abortion in 2018. That’s something that at one point would’ve been impossible to imagine. And then there’s Poland that expanded its rape and abortion laws. In Catholic-strong Mexico, states are progressively decriminalizing abortion, and they also passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal payment and gender parity in government positions.

We all know the Nordic nations always top all the lists when it comes to progressive policy that center women, but even governments in South Korea now pay a significant portion childcare costs, including payments for stay-at-home parents. Japan, Indonesia, Spain, Zambia, and Vietnam all have impressive policies offering menstrual leave, giving women the option of time off from work due to period-related discomfort or illness.

But America? We are going backwards in all the ways, especially right now. As Human Rights Watch (HRW) says in their “The State of Women’s Rights,” women and birthing people are seeing rollbacks when it comes to our rights:

The first Trump presidency was bad for reproductive rights…Donald Trump’s second term is even more troubling for women. Not only are there large swaths of the country where women and girls don’t have access to abortion care, but Trump has also signaled his disregard for women’s safety by pardoning people convicted of physically blocking or threatening violence against patients at reproductive health clinics…Additionally, the Trump administration’s attacks against diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI] for women in the workplace will be particularly harmful for Black, Latina, and Indigenous women.

Which brings me back to my original question, why can’t we just give women their rights? What are we so afraid of? Forget the power of women, we’re not even allowing too many of them to be around it! So, why? Why now is America, of all countries, so determined to limit women’s health and rights?

One word? Authoritarianism. And it’s rising all around us.

“…It’s important to remember that fighting for women’s rights means you’re fighting authoritarianism,” HRW warns. “It’s often authoritarian governments, or those backsliding into authoritarianism, that take women’s rights away. But women’s access to health care and living a life free from violence is good for everyone. And when you take away women’s freedom of expression and association, it brings down whole communities, no matter people’s gender. The fact that women’s rights are human rights is not just a slogan, it’s a lived reality.”

The fact that women’s rights are being targeted so rigorously is no accident after all. Because the truth is, it’s not hard to give women the protections we want and deserve. It’s just dangerous— for the patriarchy.