When Kamala Harris picked Tim Walz as her vice-presidential running mate, the governor of Minnesota and former advisor to his school’s gay-straight alliance student club was instantly compared with his Republican counterpart, J.D. Vance.
There are many differences between these two men. But against a backdrop of raging culture wars in the US, it has been their views on gender equality and women’s rights that have animated public discussions.
Vance grabbed the headlines with statements about “childless cat ladies” not being fit for politics. He attacked Harris and other women and LGBTQ+ people without biological children, amplifying conservative gender norms that value women only as mothers.
