As a number of women launch bids to challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, his language about female opponents is drawing renewed attention. Critics point to a pattern of gendered remarks that they say trivialise and demean women in politics.
In a recent interview, Mr Trump referred to former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch as “the woman” rather than by name. He told Fox & Friends that he heard “bad things” about “the ambassador, the woman”, and that his staff felt obliged to be kind because “she’s a woman – we have to be nice.” Professor Marianne LaFrance, a psychologist at Yale University, says this language marks her primarily as a woman rather than a professional, tapping into unconscious stereotypes.
Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, says the remarks fit a broader pattern. She notes that Mr Trump has made demeaning comments about prominent women including Hillary Clinton, Carly Fiorina, Elizabeth Warren, and Heidi Cruz. The 2005 Access Hollywood tape in which he bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy” remains the most notorious example.
Even women who support Mr Trump are not immune. He recently suggested his adviser Kellyanne Conway “must have done some bad things” to her husband because he criticises the president. Walsh also observes that female family members such as Ivanka Trump are presented in a “hyper-feminised” way that fits traditional gender roles.
Other controversial quotes include calling Clinton “stamina” deficient, describing Fiorina’s face as unelectable, and labelling Warren “goofy” with a “nasty mouth”. He also made crude comments about journalist Megyn Kelly and former White House aide Omarosa Newman. The cumulative effect, experts say, is a language that systematically undermines women’s authority and credibility.
