This week, Hope Hicks became communications director for President Donald Trump, joining press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to make the first female-led White House communications team in history.
Naturally, this was celebrated in every major female-oriented publication.
Just kidding.
The announcement came in the form of a promotion for Hicks, who has been serving as interim communications director since Anthony Scaramucci’s dramatic departure. The 28-year-old from Greenwich, Connecticut, keeps a uniquely low profile, and is thought to be one of Trump’s most loyal and trusted advisers.
In addition to Hicks, the White House also announced Mercedes Schlapp a senior strategic communications adviser.
To be clear, I didn’t expect Elle, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and the rest of these “women” magazines to celebrate Hope Hicks or any other woman in the White House for their politics. In fact, they’ve made it pretty clear where they stand on Donald Trump’s presidency.
But I do expect these “feminist” magazines to celebrate the fact that yet another young woman has climbed to the top in her field—in the White House, no less.
This is a perfect example of the problem that Sheryl Sandberg and so many others attempt to highlight. The problem with women’s equality isn’t that women can’t get jobs—it’s that they’re underrepresented as they work their way up the career ladder.
We can debate why this is for years to come, whether it’s because they leave the workforce earlier than men, whether it’s the type of industries they go into, what they actually want out of their careers, or whether they’re actually being treated unfairly. But the reality is, women lag in leadership roles, and the White House is doing its part to change that.
Putting aside the politics involved, you’d think the president of the United States’ choosing women to lead his communications team would be a big deal for female-focused publications, particularly coming from a man they so often paint as a misogynist.
But of course, feminists are staying silent, showing once again that accomplishments for women, by women, only count if you’re a Democrat.
We, on the other hand, think it’s pretty awesome, and would like to recognize Hicks, Sanders, and all the other women in the White House for setting an example for young girls and women, that they can lead and inspire from inside the nation’s most important office.