It’s been said since the Reagan era that “personnel is policy.”
So when we reviewed new White House staffing numbers, it came as a bit of a surprise that in an administration led by a president often accused as anti-women in his policies and sometimes words, nearly half of the staff are women.
What’s more, one-quarter, or 56, hold top “commissioned” jobs, including the directors of domestic policy, legislative affairs, political affairs, cabinet affairs, the press and communications offices, the personnel office, and 11 others.
“That seems sizable,” said Kathryn Tenpas, a nonresident senior fellow for Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. “I don’t think the numbers look bad,” she added.
In announcing Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, Joe Biden suggested that Trump has trouble with women. “Is anyone surprised Donald Trump has a problem with strong women?” he asked.
Trump’s team, however, said the number of women he and the vice president rely on just inside the White House, not counting the Cabinet, tell a different story.
Here is the raw data:
- Forty-eight percent of the overall White House staff are women: 216 to 234 men.
- Three hundred fifteen are political appointees: 169 men, 146 women.
- The staff of the president and first lady is 48% women: 181 women, 194 men.
- The vice president has 26 female staffers and 40 men.
- The vice president’s wife, Karen Pence, employs nine women, no men.
- Half of the national security council staff are women.
The numbers are a smidge better than the general workforce in America, in which 47% are women. And it’s much better than the news industry that regularly attacks the president on women’s policies. In newsrooms, just 41% of employees are women, according to the Women’s Media Center.
“Not only does President Trump uplift the women in his administration. He implements policies that empower women across the country,” said press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, the third woman to hold that job in the current administration.
In the Obama administration, there were more women than men, but the staff was bigger, and a recent Washington Examiner report found that Trump, more than any other president, has more women as top advisers.
And while President Barack Obama had several women as top advisers, led by Valerie Jarrett, they had to fight to stop men from talking over them.
Not so in the Trump White House, where the top female voices are forceful and include Ivanka Trump, daughter and adviser to the president; Kellyanne Conway, assistant to the president and senior counselor; Brooke Rollins, assistant to the president and acting director of domestic policy; longtime ally Hope Hicks, an assistant and counselor; McEnany; and jack of all trades Stephanie Grisham, an assistant and chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump.
“By far, Ivanka is the most influential,” said Tenpas, who in June published a study of women on the “A Team” of presidents back to Ronald Reagan. In her model, Trump’s “A Team” is 23% female, the lowest since George H.W. Bush.
Ivanka Trump has led several pro-women initiatives domestically and internationally. Just this week, she announced the addition of $122 million to help women worldwide. She has also been the lead force behind jobs initiatives.
Others also cite Rollins as having a big influence. She is key to policies on immigration, law and order, tax policy, and efforts to expand opportunities in inner cities. “She is making so much happen — and mostly behind the scenes,” said an official.
Another official noted Dr. Deborah Birx, who is assisting the White House for the war on the coronavirus. Trump, said the official, “put his trust in her and allowed her to lead the way on the COVID-19 response.”
Overall, several women said that they aren’t treated differently because of their sex. “He gives respect equally. Don’t write a story that says, ‘Women this, women that.’ That doesn’t come into it. It’s how we do the job that seems to matter,” said an insider.
As with past administrations, there is a gender wage gap. In Trump’s White House, it is about 15%, said Mark Perry, who has studied White House salaries for the American Enterprise Institute.
“That makes sense since the lower-paid positions are typically recent college graduates, and 57% of college graduates are female,” he added.
In her new book, Off the Record, Madeleine Westerhout, the former director of Oval Office Operations, noted that she had been passed over for the title by her boss, who called her inexperienced for the job she had been essentially doing for two years.
So, on the advice of Conway, Ivanka Trump, and former spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, she approached the president alone when the job came open again.
His reaction? “That sounds good,” he told her.
“You can complain about some of the comments he’s made about women over the years, but when it came down to it, he stood up for me, just as he has stood up for Kellyanne, Sarah, Hope, and countless other women he has surrounded himself with,” Westerhout said.
Below are the women on the White House staff at the top two commissioned officer levels:
Kayleigh McEnany, Assistant to the President and Press Secretary
Alyssa Farah, Assistant to the President and Director of Communications
Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President
Kellyanne Conway, Assistant to the President and Senior Counselor
Brooke Rollins, Assistant to the President and Acting Director of Domestic Policy
Kristan Nevins, Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary
Amy Swonger, Assistant to the President and Acting Director of Legislative Affairs
Hope Hicks, Assistant to the President and Counselor to the President
Stephanie Grisham, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady and Spokesperson
Emma Doyle, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for Policy for the First Lady
Jana Toner, Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Karen Pence
Anna Niceta, Deputy Assistant to the President and Social Secretary
Julie Radford, Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Advisor for Economic Initiatives
Desiree Thompson Sayle, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Correspondence
Julia Hahn, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Communications
Jennifer Lichter, Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
Cassidy Dumbauld, Deputy Assistant to the President and Advisor to the Senior Advisor
Hope Hudson, Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Senior Counselor
May Davis, Deputy Assistant to the President and Advisor to White House Counsel
Molly Michael, Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Assistant to the President
Monica Block, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of White House Management & Administration & Director of the Office of Administration
Jennifer Korn, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Office of Public Liaison
Hayley D’Antuono, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Operations for the First Lady
Kate Todd, Deputy Counsel to the President
