Carly Fiorina will give an address on “the state of women in America” on Thursday night that reveals her intention to redefine the word, “feminist.”
“A feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses,” Fiorina said. “We will have arrived when every woman can decide for herself how to best find and use her God-given gifts. A woman may choose to have five children and home-school them. She may choose [to] become a CEO or run for president. I am conservative because I know we are all equal in the eyes of God — men and women.”
The former Hewlett-Packard CEO turned Republican presidential candidate has also been critical of conservatives’ outreach to female voters in the past, and organized the Unlocking Potential Project to turn out women voters in the 2014 midterm elections.
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Fiorina will talk about her success in the business world — from secretary to CEO — and how gender impacts the obstacles women face, according to her prepared remarks provided by her campaign. She will talk about the questions she has faced as the only female GOP presidential candidate, including queries about her nail polish and whether her hormones prevent her from serving in the Oval Office. She will also share an anecdote from her interaction with a donor’s daughter that provides greater insight about how she perceives female identity:
“A little girl approached me. She asked, ‘Have you ever wished you were someone else?’ I answered, ‘I used to sometimes when I was younger, but now I know that I am who God intended me to be. Have you ever wanted to be someone else?’ She looked away and said, ‘I don’t know.’ She was 10 years old, and at that age, ‘I don’t know’ means ‘yes.’ So I reassured her: ‘You are exactly who God wants you to be. Don’t wish to be someone you are not. Find out who you are.'”
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Fiorina will deliver the speech at an event hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. In June 2013, CEI honored a Deirdre McCloskey, a transgender woman, for her work as an economist. Fiorina’s prepared remarks make no mention of whether transgender women like McCloskey impact the state of womanhood in America. In a phone call this afternoon with reporters, said she chose CEI as the venue to deliver the speech because of how it brings together conservative business and political leaders.
In answer to a question from the Washington Examiner, Fiorina said she thought people are most able to fulfill their potential when they are able to be open about who they are, which is why she made sure that HP had a work environment that welcomed transgenders.
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“The reason I say it’s a somewhat difficult question is of course because being a woman is about a lot more than our bodies and what we look like,” Fiorina said. “That in fact is the real point of today’s speech: that regardless of how a woman looks that a woman has a lot of potential and when that potential is used as the facts undeniably demonstrate, the world is a better place.”
McCloskey, who argues for free market economics, told the Examiner she is planning on voting for a Republican for the first time ever. She supports Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and his libertarian brand of politics. McCloskey said the candidacies of Fiorina and Hillary Clinton, the lone woman among the Democratic presidential candidates, signals an important milestone for women.
“Her [Fiorina’s] candidacy alone is an indicator of how far we’ve come,” McCloskey said. “I, with her and many other women, I don’t want to go on and on talking about female victimhood. I think that puts us in the position of requiring the gallant men to reach down to help us.”
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McCloskey said she does not believe she can match Fiorina’s knowledge of womanhood, having “only become a woman in a social role at age 53.” But she thinks she knows what Fiorina can expect on the campaign trail.
“What I did learn — as Ms. Fiorina will relearn, as she has known since about age 6, in competing with the mob of men on the GOP side — is that men have a deep habit of playing only with the other boys,” McCloskey said. “You do not change gender to improve your career, not in a world run mainly by men. That’s another hill for Ms. Fiorina, as again she well knows, and has shown in the business world.”
