The director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies said that women “are being erased” by the fledgling Trump administration.
Political Science Professor Nancy Hirschmann made the comments yesterday during a panel discussion on “the future of feminism and gender equity” over the next four (possibly eight) years, The Daily Pennsylvanian reports.
Unlike with the current cadre in the White House, “[w]omen, under the Obama administration, were fairly present,” Hirschmann said.
Yet, the professor and her co-panelists expressed hope: “In fact, more and more women are thinking about running for office,” Professor Dawn Teele said.
Hirschmann added, “What you can do is you can run for office. That’s where decisions are being made.”
The discussion was hosted by the Penn Association for Gender Equity.
Panelist Desiree Peterkin Bell, a lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication, encouraged students to get involved in activism even outside of politics. “I believe you don’t have to be in a role of power to be impactful,” she said. “You just have to be passionate about the work.”
Speaking about the future of feminist activism, Teele said it is important to consider the differences in perspectives among various generations of feminists, explaining that younger generations have a better understanding of intersectionality.
“The uncomfortable conversation is that you cannot ignore the history,” Bell said.
Issues surrounding intersectionality and the historical exclusion of women of color and transgender women from feminist movements were of particular concern to the panelists.
“Women are not a monolith,” Bell added. She said that in order to make change and to understand gender equity issues, “you must challenge the social construct of the idea of what being a woman is.”
Ms. Bell is right — women are not a monolith. Missing from this discussion is the rather notable achievement of Kellyanne Conway, the first woman to run a successful presidential campaign.
Also missing are Trump appointees Elaine Chao and Nikki Haley, who, for “intersectionality” purposes also happen to be racial minorities.
Professor Hirschmann “works in the history of political thought, analytical philosophy, feminist theory, and the intersection of political theory and public policy,” according to her university bio.
Some of her publications include The Subject of Liberty: Toward a Feminist Theory of Freedom and Rethinking Obligation: A Feminist Method for Political Theory. She also served as co-editor of Feminist Interpretations of John Locke and Feminist Interpretations of Thomas Hobbes, among other works.
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