Carly Fiorina plans to deliver an address on the “state of women in America,” next week. The former Hewlett-Packard executive and lone woman in the GOP presidential field, Fiorina has sought to use her influence to motivate other Republican women to get out the vote.
The remarks will be delivered at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
While Fiorina’s staff declined to comment on her upcoming speech, her past statements and advocacy may foreshadow what she hopes to accomplish. She often presents her own campaign in contrast to the only other female presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
And in advance of the 2014 midterm elections, Fiorina developed the Unlocking Potential Project that was designed to spur conservative women into action in their local communities.
“When it comes to reaching women voters, conservative campaigns and committees are being outworked, outsmarted, and out organized,” the Unlocking Potential Project’s website states. “It is well known that Republicans face a gender gap. It is less well known that we also face a ground game gap.”
Fiorina has not hesitated to suggest the Republican Party needs to engage more women with a new message they may find appealing.
“Sometimes we talk at a high level about policies and principles, but we need to bring it down to a personal level,” Fiorina said in an interview with S.E. Cupp. “We talk a lot about less taxes and less regulation as principles. But if you’re a single mom with two kids and you’re trying to open a hair dressing shop, it’s going to take you over a year to deal with all the regulations to do that, and you have a tax code that’s thousands of pages long. You might get discouraged.”
One possible stumbling block Fiorina may encounter next week is explaining how or whether transgender individuals, including Caitlyn Jenner, fit into American womanhood.
Jenner, who came out as a Republican earlier this year, was recently featured on the cover of Vanity Fair donning women’s clothing. Jenner’s gender has become a hot-button political issue in recent months.
The 65-year-old former Olympic track star has many right-leaning critics, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a presidential candidate. Earlier this year Huckabee made comments that garnered widespread attention after Jenner announced he had become Caitlyn.
“I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE,” Huckabee said. “I’m pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, ‘Coach, I think I’d rather shower with the girls today.'”
Fiorina’s staff declined to comment on her perception of Jenner, including whether she intends to address the issue of Jenner’s gender in her speech on American womanhood.
