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Ivanka Trump says that motherhood is “the most important job any woman can have”

Ivanka Trump, trotted out of late as proof that obviously Donald can’t possibly be a misogynist because some of his sperm has X chromosomes in it, has taken to video to tell us all about Donald’s policy proposal for working moms. (It’s the one he only developed because Ivanka herself pushed him to it, saying, “Daddy, daddy, we have to do this!” because nothing says “I respect women” like making your adult daughter sound like Veruca Salt at a campaign stop.) And because we can’t have woman- and family-friendly policies in place just because they’re the right thing to do in our current economy and societal structure, Ivanka had to come right out of the gate telling us that the most important job that any woman can have is mother.

She, her inherited real estate job, her clothing company, and her nanny speak directly from the heart.

So I, my freelance job, my sporadic blog writing, and my two largely self-sufficient dogs will do the same.

1. Being a mother isn’t that kind of job. This is evidenced by the fact that, for example, motherhood doesn’t come with a paycheck, or benefits, or limited working hours, or government regulations that keep mothers from being screamed at by a tyrannical boss at three in the morning. “Motherhood is the most important job” is the rallying cry of people who want to placate mothers by patting them on the back and telling them that they are Very Important and Valuable, then offering no concrete support.

2. Way to marginalize women who aren’t mothers. Own a uterus and present as female? Your story is as absolute and ink-writ as that complement of ova you were born with. Of course there’s a wide range of unsolicited advice that comes with a decision not to fulfill your uterine destiny, but the top of the list is always how empty and meaningless one’s life must be without a baby in it. I guess, as a woman who has no interest in being a mother, I can only aim as high as the second most important job a woman can have. (In fact, as a non-entrepreneur who is neither a mother nor a wife, I might actually top out at fourth.)

And seriously, I get enough of the message that my life isn’t fulfilling and I’m not making a worthwhile contribution to the world because I don’t have kids. I don’t need to hear it from a rich real estate scion stumping for her disgustingly sexist father.

3. What’s the most important job a man can have? Is it taking responsibility for your children and taking an equal role in their upbringing? I can’t imagine that it is, or else we’d get a bunch of condescending videos defining men by their reproductive capabilities. And Trump’s plan would include paid family leave and not just paid maternity leave. I’m guessing in Trump’s mind, the most important job a man can have is “guy who got millions from his father and rose to the top by screwing his small-business vendors, gaming his taxes, declaring bankruptcy four times, and running a scary-successful presidential campaign based on his racism, sexism, classism, and flat-out lying,” but I’m going to go with “astronaut.”

4. At least now motherhood is an important job now and not an “inconvenience.” Which was Donald Trump’s opinion in 2004 — that a woman’s pregnancy is “certainly an inconvenience for a business.” (Wait, no, he never said that. I forgot.) And his position in 2010 that working mothers “are not giving me 100 percent” — just (a very specific) 84 percent. At least the many Trump employees who don’t get paid maternity leave at all — despite Ivanka’s claims to the contrary — will appreciate that they’ll have that option under a Trump presidency, even if it’ll only be because it’s required by law.

5. Motherhood doesn’t have to be the Most Important Job for mothers to still deserve accommodations in the workplace. (And fathers, too — let’s enable families to make parenthood a team effort.) Regardless of where motherhood ranks on the importantness scale, women are the primary source of income in 40 percent of households and the primary caretaker in 59 percent of households, and excluding them from the workplace by making it impossible for them to parent would decimate the workforce and put single-parent and two-income families in financial jeopardy. Whether motherhood is the first or eighth most important job, children require parental attention to grow into productive adults, and mothers (and fathers) need to be able to provide that attention without sacrificing income. Regardless of the importantitude standing of motherhood, pushing a woman out of the workforce because she has kids is basically turning motherhood into a punishment, and that’s not conducive to a healthy home environment for her or her kids. And even if motherhood isn’t the most important job of all jobs a woman can have, a woman who is a mother doesn’t deserve to suffer poverty or professional stagnation just because she also has this responsibility to her children.

So let’s cut the crap already: Ranking women’s roles from most to least important is unnecessary and divisive, and paying lip service to the sacred value of motherhood while doing nothing about it is hypocritical. Support working mothers because we live in a society. And don’t believe a man who hires inexperienced teenagers because they’re hot when his surrogate says he’s all about respecting women in the workforce.


9 thoughts on Ivanka Trump says that motherhood is “the most important job any woman can have”

  1. Right now the prevailing theory is that a deplorable 35% of Americans hardcore like Donald Trump, but 80% or more are fascinated with him. I’m hoping that once he loses this election, he won’t be a fascinating socially-deviant maybe-President, and instead will just be another socially-deviant loser, and everyone will start pointedly ignoring him.

    No one actually likes working with him, he was just unexpectedly successful and novel. Once he’s a picked-over loser carcass of a public figure, we’ll all move on.

    Plus, faux-liberal america is desperate to get back to news cycles that allow them to pretend that everyone decent is polite, so racism and sexism don’t need to be mentioned in decent company.

  2. Social Scripts have taken a prevalent role in our society and in this blog post I can see how their relevance has been shown in Ivanka’s statement. Women working in the home has been a “norm” until the present age, but our progression as a society has allowed women to have a more sense of worth. I believe when you look at Ivanka’s statement, you cannot associate her with her father directly. Yes, the influence of her father has probably played a role in her opinion, but she is still her own person with her own opinion. From my perspective (as similar to the author) do not have children; however, I can see exactly why Ivanka makes this statement. Since I do not have children I think I cannot empathize because I do not know the feeling of having a child of my own. In this situation her….

    1. opinion may be that this is most important in her life; however, I think it is important to respect that this is her opinion. As the author highlighted, motherhood should not be something that pushes a woman away from a career. Women today prove they can complete both jobs well, and we now see that parenting is a team effort with males becoming more hands on. After seeing how Ivanka hold herself in the public eye, I think she should make women proud. She is a woman who holds multiple job, has kept a successful marriage, and has children. Even though in her opinion being a mother is most important, she shows obviously through her real estate and fashion line her job is just as important. Why are we judging something that is treasured in her heart, and why do we judge her for her father?…

      1. I think Ivanka is a great example of a progressive women as she has overcome many of the stereotypical gender boundaries.

  3. I respect where you are coming from. You want to make a point that being a mother is not the most important thing a person can do, and most moms do not do the outstanding job that Ivanka Trump describes. However, I disagree. I do believe that being a mother can be the most important job. You are in charge of the health and wellbeing of another human who cannot survive on its own. You must care for this child, feed the child, and raise the child. Without it’s guardian, the child will not survive. So, for a woman, motherhood is the most important job because if you fail, you are losing a life. In other jobs, such as financial advisors, CEOs, and lawyers, if you make a mistake or don’t care for your job enough, worst case scenario is you get fired. In motherhood, if you “slip up” or “forget a

    1. If you have a kid, certainly making sure the kid is raised properly — whether that’s you, or your partner, or someone else — is a crucial role for a mother. But if you don’t have kids, aren’t even interested in having kids, then squeezing out a kid and raising it isn’t the most important thing that you can do. There are plenty of essential, world-changing, high-stakes jobs that a woman can do that have nothing to do with raising children, and I think it’s harmful and divisive to say that the most important job that any woman can have is one that starts in the uterus.

    2. I can think of a few professions where getting fired is definitely not the ‘worst case scenario’ when it comes to failure.

      Doctors
      Nurses
      Law enforcement
      Quality control engineers
      Psychologists
      Firefighters
      Political leaders
      Safety technicians
      911/emergency operators
      Air Traffic Control

      I could probably go on, but I think I’ve made my point.

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