At a rally in November 2024, Donald Trump told the women of America that whether they “like it or not, I’m going to protect them”. And in his first 100 days as president, Trump has taken his role in a direction that leans into the most traditional form of patriarchy – a protector who knows what is best for women despite their demands to the contrary.
In his leadership of the Republican party and his administration – and, crucially, in the executive orders he has issued – Trump has often tried to suggest women are at the forefront of his agenda. But rather than protecting women’s interests, these orders are setting back their rights at an alarming rate.
On his first day back in the White House, the government website offering reproductive health information was taken offline. Since then, the Department of Health and Human Services has removed all mention of abortion protection policies and the Department of Justice has dropped the Biden administration’s lawsuit against Idaho, over its near-total abortion ban.
