By now, we’ve all heard about Donald Trump’s lackluster (and downright bad) proposed maternity leave policy (which entails that parents get up to six weeks of paid leave, but that’s it). It offers nothing for men. In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan’s Prachi Gupta, Ivanka Trump was asked to respond to her dad’s new plan–and she wasn’t exactly pleased.
Gupta, rightly so, pointed out that paternity leave has been used to level the playing field between men and women in the workplace–and wondered why Trump’s plan didn’t include men. Ivanka responded by saying her dad’s plan is a “giant leap” from where we are now. She went so far as to say there’s currently “nothing,” which is untrue as the federal government currently requires job protection for 12 weeks of unpaid family leave. While that doesn’t set the bar high, saying there is nothing is false–especially as more and more companies have parental leave for both parents.
When Gupta went on to ask about what would happen to same-sex couples, Ivanka said it would work fine for two women married to each other–which misses the point about two men, or if a couple adopts a child. She stated:
“The original intention of the plan is to help mothers in recovery in the immediate aftermath of childbirth.”
Umm, OK. Except six weeks isn’t really enough time to recover from childbirth, especially if you had a C-section or other complications. And even if they didn’t give birth, adoptive parents still need to time to adjust to life with a new human in their charge.
Then, Gupta pressed more and asked why the Donald had a change of heart in 2004, when he called pregnancy an inconvenience in the workplace. This is when Ivanka got a bit snippy–and mostly just avoided the question:
“I think that you have a lot of negativity in these questions, and I think my father has put forth a very comprehensive and really revolutionary plan to deal with a lot of issues. So I don’t know how useful it is to spend too much time with you on this if you’re going to make a comment like that.
You said he made those comments. I don’t know that he said those comments … There’s plenty of time for you to editorialize around this, but I think he put forth a really incredible plan.”
Regardless of my own–or anyone’s–political beliefs, being defensive and avoiding truly answering a question is not a great tactic or way to gain support and trust from anyone. In this case, it’s especially disconcerting, considering this is about who is going to be President of the United States, not about running a reality TV show.
As if that isn’t bad enough, Ivanka also claimed on Wednesday that Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a child care or family leave policy, which is not true–both are listed on her website. In three different pages, as pointed out by Think Progress. She also stated that Trump hotels offer paid maternity leave to their workers, but they don’t.
The lesson learned here: Do your research. Don’t lie.
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