The left’s firm attitude against women may come as a shock to those who proclaim themselves to be feminists. However, ask any woman on the right and she will affirm the unfortunate truth. As a college student, I had hoped to find mentors and encouragement in school, but like many conservative students, I have been resigned to disappointment.
During one of my classes, my professor predicted that the first female president would not come from the left, but rather from the right. This was met with gasps from my peers. He continued to say it was not what he wanted, but those on the right have a system, and they would make it happen.
I could not ignore this sexist insinuation that conservative women have somehow weaseled the system in a power grab. While the rest of the class may have gotten a laugh, this interaction showed me that my professors did not want to see me succeed.
Despite incidents like this in academia, I have been fortunate to find a community for conservative women on a college campus. I have the privilege of serving as President of my university’s NeW chapter. The Network of enlightened Women, also known as NeW, is an organization that seeks to empower conservative women and provides the encouragement that is severely lacking for conservatives on college campuses.
This fall, I was delighted to attend the Capitol Hill Intern Summit hosted by NeW. During the panel discussion, two female leaders in Washington, DC shared about the importance of balance. As young women, we are told that we can have a career or a family, but having both is nearly impossible. What I learned was many women shared a desire for healthy marriages and time with their children. It was refreshing to hear from successful women how we can excel as professionals and mothers, without sacrificing one for the other.
Around my table at the summit were young women from Mississippi, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. All of us are from different states, schools, and backgrounds, yet all of us are here in Washington, DC to understand this system we live in. These women may aspire to rise to the role of President of the United States or dream of their future as stay-at-home moms.
Whatever their goals are, all I want is to see these women succeed. I hope that they excel in whatever path they forge. Beyond my table was an entire room filled with intelligent, kind, deep-thinkers. I saw future congresswomen, businesswomen, wives, lawyers, doctors, and mothers. I saw leaders in that room, leaders of nations or leaders of the PTA, it makes no difference.
This contrasts with the hustle, workaholic “girl boss” culture sold by the left. As a conservative, I am not a “girl boss.” I am a woman. Female conservatives are women with big aspirations, not the poor submissive housewives ruled by our conservative husbands or the repressed and power-hungry victims we are made out to be by our friends on the left.
Unfortunately, this community of conservative women that stands for female empowerment was soon attacked, and on a very public scale. The View’s Sunny Hostin once compared women who vote for the GOP to “roaches who vote for Raid.” As I watched her say this I could not help but think of my professor.
This is what the left has to offer. The left produces men who bemoan a female president. Worse, it houses women who believe their positions are the ultimate truth and denies humanity and agency to all women who dare disagree. In a way, I feel bad for my professor and women like Sunny Hostin. It is unfortunate that they will never get to sit with the fine women I sat with and see them as the inspiring women they are.
But perhaps my professor was right about one thing; the first female president will come from the right, that is, if he’s lucky.
AJ Given
AJ Given is a senior at the American University School of International Service in Washington, DC. She is President of the Network of enlightened Women chapter on campus.
The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff.
