Republicans have been battling with a gender gap of years, but this presidential election cycle the divide is larger than others. Attempting to bridge the gap, Donald Trump unleashed his greatest asset during the last night of the Republican National Committee: his daughter Ivanka.
From the start of the speech, Ivanka noted that she was a millennial, and like most people in her generation didn’t subscribe to a political party and voted on the issues and tried to do what was right for her family and country.
She directly addressed millennial women throughout the speech, first by putting their fears that the Republican nominee was a misogynist and racist to rest and then discussing how her father plans on combatting gender pay gap and maternity leave.
Ivanka said with pride that her father has never judged anyone who worked for him based on the race, gender, religion, or sexual identity.
“There have always been men of all background and ethnicities on my father’s job sites. And long before it was commonplace, you also saw women,” Ivanka said to the cheering crowd. “My father values talent; he recognizes real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is color blind and gender neutral. He hires the best person for the job, period.”
The Trump Organization has more female executives than male, Ivanka noted, and the company proudly supports women with equal pay for equal work and gives maternity leave for new mothers.
Ivanka focused on those two issues that matter most to female voters, promising that her father as president would support equal pay and change labor laws to value mothers.
“In 2014, women made 83 cents for every dollar made by a man. Single women without children earn 94 cents for each dollar earned by a man, whereas married mothers made only 77 cents. As researchers have noted, gender is no longer the factor creating the greatest wage discrepancy in this country, motherhood is,” Ivanka stated.
“As President, my father will change the labor laws that were put into place at a time when women were not a significant portion of the workforce,” she continued. “And he will focus on making quality childcare affordable and accessible for all.”
The Republican nominee’s daughter received attacks from both the left and the right for these statements, saying they reflected liberal values, but those criticisms are missing the point. In a campaign, the job of the candidate and their surrogates is to win over the electorate as they are, not try and transform them into something you’d hope they’ll become.
On that measure, Ivanka was the most influential campaigner that her father had throughout the entire convention.
Watch the full speech below:
