Ah yes, 2024. Pre-election 2024. Actually let me take you back to a very specific moment in time: July 21, notably the day Joe Biden hung his political cap and relinquished his reelection campaign to a fresher face. Kamala Harris only needed a mere few days to gain the necessary commitments from the Democratic party.
But all good things came to an end. Harris had an insanely meteoric rise and devastating fall. From the moment that she closed out the Democratic National Convention by accepting her historical nomination August 22, to each passing day of the Trump administration, women have been at the center of nearly everything. In what felt like “the year of the girl,” while Harris ran a fiery campaign where womanhood has seen historic community and empowerment, is now soured by the feminine experience becoming a political pawn.
In the overwrought political landscape Harris entered, it was unspoken that she was the rallying point people needed to see in a presidential race. Her consequential vice presidency was what women needed after elections-past featured disappointing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and a fairly misogynistic imminent leader in President Trump. Her campaign quieted concerns for women in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned, transgender activism and hatred being fervent and Trump and his closest confidants comments and actions towards women. She would never raise her hand to the women who platformed her.
She ran on this fear women had for the future with a heavy-handed policy to protect reproductive freedom, carried over from her actions alongside the Biden administration. She co-sponsored legislation that would have nullified certain state-level abortion restrictions, and tabled the Right to Contraception Act.
Her devotion to her mother and sister’s role in her leadership was a staple in her social presence. She was empathetic and restrained in her political barbs with President Trump, but still passionate. She put distance between her womanhood and her racial background in her campaign often, to be agile against constant criticism that she was using identity politics on the trail, remaining true to her values. All to the soundtrack of Charli XCX’s pop-sensation “brat.”
All of this was a thrash at the current president, with a plethora of harmful policy ideas about women and their identities and a quote book worth of commentary directed towards his female counterparts (yes, his words matter).
But as the height of community between many women of all backgrounds fizzled approaching Nov. 5, the revelation pedestal of powerful women we could once admire has been shifted to gendered politicized pawns. While our society reels every which direction, the hindsight and foresight about conversations regarding women in politics is becoming tasteless.
At the forefront of the media at this moment is the overly politicized approach to discussions about transgender women. The actions and rhetoric surrounding this social concern is damaging to all parties, but has become a means of pitting women against one another.
Right-wing politicians villainize groups for their ideas about the fluidity of gender, not acknowledging how their own binary mimics the same indoctrination.
In the modern conversation, cisgender women are categorized as a civilization at risk of erasure, as outlined by President Trump’s executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The loaded language of the order insists upon the idea that cisgender women are victims in the current world.
“Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety and well-being,” the order states.
Trump has also made an example of transgender athletes on their own stage, platforming the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025,” where he has made an example of high school and college programs for their inclusivity by threatening funding. While taking advantage of public concerns, he has never acknowledged that there are reportedly less than 10 transgender athletes in the NCAA, and a similar amount estimated in high school level athletics.
The political puppetry of women in these spaces is keenly noticeable by the lack of conversations about men when discussing gender conformity and transgender sports. Men are not afforded the same political spotlight, which should speak volumes to the genuineness of these concerns for women.
This concern for women’s safety and ability to exist in intimate spaces safely may be at the forefront of the right-wing’s mind when discussing the imminent dangers they foresee for cisgender spaces. This presumptuous and fear-mongering language towards women is neatly contrasted by Trump’s declaration that he is the “fertilization president,” and touting in vitro fertilization accessibility. This campaign trail promise is haunting him as his cabinet directs cuts to CDC positions that focus on the treatment, making these claims far more about optics than about honest care.
For many women, fertility options are expensive and inaccessible, so the president’s campaign promises offered an opportunity for struggling families and many believed him. While right-wing discussions play on women’s need for comprehensive reproductive welfare, while in parallel, they push for dismantling abortion freedoms for women across the country and forcing more people against one another— both specifically gendered discussions that do not harp on male perspectives for political gain.
Women are not helpless in a world that is accessible and welcoming to non-conforming gender ideals. By intimidating an entire population of women by declaring they are at risk of harm, the efforts of the Trump administration, however misguided and regardless of correctness to an individual, are hollow fear tactics meant to use sympathy of women for political prowess.
Women’s struggles with reproductive health and accessibility should not be shrewd in hypocrisy. You cannot be the “fertilization president,” while cutting down research grants and discharging departments focused on the issue. President Trump and his cabinet are openly exemplifying a willingness to commodify female struggles.
It is telling that some of the most prominent examples of alliance towards women is from first lady Melania Trump, who has been lobbying for revenge-porn legislation on Capitol Hill. The first lady’s political activism for women has been the most genuine of the administration that claims to have taken such an extensive interest in female safety.
To know that less than a year ago, womanhood felt like a sign of resilience and individualism, is rattling. As Trump’s first 100 days drags on, women are at the forefront of major political discussions, but not the face of them— and it shows. The concern for women never felt patronizing or forced in Harris’ campaign, especially with a running-mate like Tim Walz, whose fatherhood shaped his concern for women’s rights.
I, like many others, believed that these politicians cared because they did, whereas the Republican party has made radical attempts to separate female communities on biology, beliefs and lifestyle. They are trumpeting wins on IVF while characterizing women as helpless victims in an accepting world. What once felt like the social shift to equality of genders during the campaign, has pivoted dystopian and it has only been a mere few months.
There are issues at the forefront of female communities that should not be overlooked. All women are often silent victims in domestic violence, financial biases, abortion inaccessibility, medical care and malpractice. Legislation is necessary, but the current administration has made the issues for women a political talking point that isn’t looking to protect us, it is looking to capitalize off of our vote. Staying in power is more important than making honest strides at improving America for all women for the Trump administration.
