“We’ve got your back, Kellyanne!”
That’s the roaring cheer political commentator Mercedes Schlapp gave Kellyanne Conway at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference this week. It incited so much applause that Schlapp had to yell over the cheers as Conway waved at the crowd in appreciation. The interview proceeds like a talk show, full of laughs between Conway and Schlapp and asides about their respective families, Conway having four children and Schlapp having met her husband in the White House. Conway doesn’t appear as twisted as some of the statements that have come out of her mouth. Instead, she offers herself as a strong, independent woman, the product of a generation of strong women in her family. It’s the kind of persona that has been bolstered by feminists across the globe. The issue? Conway denounces feminism as anti-male while using feminist issues for her convenience.
Conway’s credibility when it comes to social issues has long been in the spotlight. Joe Scarborough recently revealed that he will not book Conway for his show because of her lack thereof. However, Conway’s lack of credibility is destroying more than just her chance at airtime. It’s destroying women, who are hearing feminist banter come out of Conway’s mouth but reject feminism because Conway considers it too “anti-male.”
No feminist is asking for men to leave the streets where women get catcalled, leave the college parties where women have been sexually assaulted, or leave any of the endless places where women have been considered inferior or unworthy of respect. As a feminist, I’m asking for men to cooperate with women – to not make female employees uncomfortable at work, to not catcall women in the streets, to not make sexual advances at drunk women at college parties – simply, to treat women as equals. This is why people consider themselves feminists, so that women can be equal to men economically, socially, and politically. Kellyanne Conway is only fooling women. Though she claims that she is against feminism, she’s aware of the political, economic, and social threats to women’s success that make feminism necessary.
Conway recognizes the need for women in politics. In her CPAC interview, Conway claims that she would advise America’s daughters that “the job for first female president of the United States remains open, so go for it.” At the same time, however, she brags that she was raised to be a strong, independent woman “without anybody ever saying the word ‘feminist’” and claims that feminism only presumes that women aren’t as powerful as the men around them. False, Mrs. Conway. Feminism is just the opposite.
Feminists are trying to uplift the women around them and promote that they not be intimidated in male-dominated environments, which, based on Conway’s call for a first female president, are still a reality. This doesn’t mean that feminists are presuming women are weak. We are simply seeing environments where women are a minority or are being unfairly treated, and are trying to break the cycle. Just because Conway had a childhood where politics and feminism were (allegedly) absent, doesn’t mean other women should be shamed because their parents did otherwise.
Conway sees some of the unfair standards that face women, but faults women for these very standards. In her interview, she addresses the difficult work/mom balance, encouraging mothers to stay focused since there are “a different set of expectations for women,” a reality that she has addressed before. It’s advice that sounds out of place since she also tells Schlapp that feminists want the government to coddle them and are victimizing themselves. You can’t address high expectations that are placed on women, then argue that women are victimizing themselves. Call a spade a spade. Conway not only ignores chances to promote the feminist movement but makes herself seem hypocritical in the process. She has referred to herself as a postfeminist, yet spends half of her interview addressing feminist issues of women in politics, in the home, and in the workplace. If we were in a postfeminist age, Mrs. Conway, wouldn’t your advice be unnecessary?
Buried beneath Conway’s poor credibility, and the distasteful shadow casted on her by President Trump, are feminist advice and experiences. Unfortunately, this advice doesn’t reach women because Conway refuses to recognize that it is feminist in the first place. “When in doubt, just say ‘I’ll have what he’s having,’” says Conway, recalling a time when she was asked what her speaking fee would be during an appearance with a male counterpart. It’s a swanky enough line to make me hit rewind to hear the whole story again. As her final piece of advice to women, Conway calls for women to know and assert their worth. It’s a piece of advice that’s hard to not take seriously, especially given Conway’s past. In an interview with Cosmo last month, she admitted to encountering sexism in the workplace, whether she was receiving sexual advances from older male coworkers or receiving the heavy end of a project while her male counterparts stayed put. “You’d rather just pretend it didn’t happen, that it was your fault, or that it would never happen again,” she states in the interview, not long after stating “Listen, who hasn’t had their ass grabbed by somebody?” This is a woman who has recognized sexism in her interviews, yet refuses to recognize feminism. If you in some way recognize sexism, you have to recognize feminism.
Feminism doesn’t rely on the idea that women are weak or that men are terrible. It relies on women uplifting one another and recognizing any hint of sexism in society, whether subtle or blatant. Feminism will only move forward as long as people like Kellyanne Conway understand that there is a place for their stories of sexism and their hopes of female success within the feminist movement. It starts with recognizing your feminist hopes for what they are - not denying them out of a fear of labels.