{"id":74287,"date":"2021-03-02T13:18:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T18:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=74287"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:16","slug":"trump-years-american-global-girlhood","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/trump-years-american-global-girlhood\/","title":{"rendered":"What the end of the Trump years means for American and global girlhood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n What the end of the Trump years means for American and global girlhood\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

In Kamala Harris\u2019s rousing victory speech<\/a> in November 2020, the vice-president-elect of the United States directly addressed the country\u2019s children \u2014 but first, she spoke specifically to girls:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhile I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Many little girls (and boys) probably did watch with rapt attention as the world contemplated the historic significance of Harris\u2019s win as the first woman of Black and South Asian origin to be elected vice-president. Some parents attested to the significance of that moment, and the hope and inspiration that it ushered in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did Harris\u2019s achievement also mark a turning point for girlhood in the U.S. \u2014 and the world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump\u2019s presidency was marked by a toxic climate of aggressive hyper-masculinity where women were often insulted, bullied, mocked and harassed. Trump\u2019s comments and tweets were sometimes rampantly sexist<\/a>, excused as mere locker-room banter by his followers but found to have \u201cdangerously ingrained<\/a> an ideology of denigration and objectification of women\u201d by one researcher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conservative and regressive policy decisions of the Trump administration disproportionately affected women of colour, along with anyone else who did not belong to the white elite heteronormative order.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent quantitative study<\/a> explored the correlation between the increase in racially motivated hate crimes following Trump\u2019s election and the deterioration of mental health in young college women. Scholars have also pointed out<\/a> that exclusionary Trump policies like immigration bans and the separation of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border jeopardized the \u201cchildren\u2019s safety and well-being\u201d and particularly targeted kids from racialized and marginalized backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girlhood under siege<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the crossroads between misogyny and anti-children policies, American girlhood, unsurprisingly, came under siege during the Trump years, threatening to smother the spirit of the Fearless Girl statue facing the Wall Street Bull in New York City\u2019s financial district. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
\n In this March 2017 photo, the statue of the Fearless Girl sports a pink hat, a symbol of opposition to Trump\u2019s presidency.<\/span>
\n (AP Photo\/Mark Lennihan)<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the cultural iconography of girlhood, few can match the confidence, defiance and courage exuded by the Kristen Visbal statue, installed on the eve of International Women\u2019s Day in 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It symbolizes an audacious resilience in girls \u2014 in the U.S. and around the world \u2014 that could not be suppressed even during Trump\u2019s tenure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poet and activist Maya Angelou once wrote how she would \u201clove to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels<\/a>.\u201d Throughout Trump\u2019s presidency, girls rose to Angelou\u2019s challenge, mounting sustained challenges to his inequitable and reckless policies \u2014 from gender and race issues to immigration and climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Malala<\/a>
\n Girls activist Malala Yousafzai has been a vocal Trump critic.<\/span>
\n UK Department for International Development<\/span>, CC BY<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Malala Yousufzai, the young education activist and Nobel laureate from Pakistan, criticized Trump\u2019s discriminatory attitude towards Muslims and called his calls for immigration bans \u201ctragic\u201d and \u201cfull of hate\u201d<\/a> in 2015, even before he was elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also publicly criticized Trump\u2019s sexism<\/a> and later called him out for the cruel, unfair and inhumane separation<\/a> of more than 2,000 children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girls against Trump<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg also took on Trump. As she castigated world leaders for lacking the moral fibre to tackle climate change at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump notoriously accused her<\/a> of having anger management issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more Trump mocked and derided her, the more Thunberg upped the ante, valiantly returning fire tweet by tweet until Trump lost the election<\/a> and she used his own insults against him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Trump administration reneged<\/a> on the promise of gun control following mass shootings, a trenchant critique came from the Naomi Wadler, 11 years old at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
\n Naomi Wadler, a Virginia elementary school student, speaks during the March for Our Lives rally in support of gun control in Washington, D.C, in March 2018.<\/span>
\n (AP Photo\/Andrew Harnik)<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She spoke for all the \u201cAfrican American girls whose stories don\u2019t make the front page of every national newspaper<\/a>\u201d and her orange scarf is now an artefact at the virtual exhibition called Girlhood: It\u2019s Complicated<\/em><\/a> at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s clear that when girls and young women are at the forefront of major movements with their tireless commitment to justice and equity, and as they form a formidable coalition<\/a> transcending borders and cultures, the old structures of patriarchy and misogyny can be challenged and hopefully dismantled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Trump won the U.S. election in 2016, an educator offered a strategic toolkit to the parents of girls in the U.S. to survive his presidency<\/a>. In the wake of his re-election bid in 2020, the issue of girlhood had entered the arena of political debate \u2014 a video entitled Girl in the Mirror<\/em><\/a>, released by the conservative, anti-Trump Lincoln Project, urged American voters to imagine the impact of another presidential term marked by misogyny and sexism on girls and young women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, the U.S. and the world were spared that outcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Amanda<\/a>
\n American poet Amanda Gorman reads a poem during the 59th presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021.<\/span>
\n (AP Photo\/Patrick Semansky)<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was also fitting that the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice-President Harris featured the powerful poetry of a talented young woman, Amanda Gorman, who boldly asserted<\/a> from the balcony of the U.S. Capitol:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201c\u2026 Yet the dawn is ours<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we knew it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow we do it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow we\u2019ve weathered and witnessed\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new dawn blooms as we free it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For there is always light,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only we\u2019re brave enough to see it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only we\u2019re brave enough to be it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Carleton University is a member of this unique digital journalism platform that launched in June 2017 to boost visibility of Canada\u2019s academic faculty and researchers. Interested in writing a piece? Please contact Steven Reid<\/a> or sign up to become an author<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photos provided by The Conversation from various sources.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

—
\nCarleton Newsroom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Kamala Harris\u2019s rousing victory speech in November 2020, the vice-president-elect of the United States directly addressed the country\u2019s children \u2014 but first, she spoke specifically to girls: \u201cWhile I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":74288,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1623],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-74287","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-expert-perspectives"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/74287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/74287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74291,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/74287\/revisions\/74291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=74287"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=74287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}