Ivanka Trump's Evolving Role in the White House
Over the course of her tenure as special assistant to the president under her father's administration, Ivanka Trump has zeroed in on an agenda, focusing almost exclusively on issues regarding women's entrepreneurship, the child tax credit, and the economy. She remained silent following President Trump's hasty Twitter announcement that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve in the U.S. military, and she has yet to weigh in on the current conflict with North Korea.
However, she recently made a statement that seems to be out of step with her previous initiatives.
On Tuesday, the Trump Administration blocked the roll out of an Obama rule that would have required companies to submit "summary pay data by gender, race, and ethnicity from businesses with 100 or more employees."
Ivanka voiced her support of the decision in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “Ultimately, while I believe the intention was good and agree that pay transparency is important, the proposed policy would not yield the intended results,” she said. “We look forward to continuing to work with EEOC, OMB, Congress and all relevant stakeholders on robust policies aimed at eliminating the gender wage gap.”
Under the Obama administration, this new rule was seen a follow-up to the Lily Ledbetter Act of 2009, and a move to fight against the wage gap through transparency. "This step - stemming from a recommendation of the President’s Equal Pay Task Force and a Presidential Memorandum issued in April 2014 - will help focus public enforcement of our equal pay laws and provide better insight into discriminatory pay practices across industries and occupations," reads a statement from the Obama White House.
The Trump administration feels it is too big an ask of these companies, ignoring the research the Obama administration found compelling. “It’s enormously burdensome,” Neomi Rao, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs told the Wall Street Journal. “We don’t believe it would actually help us gather information about wage and employment discrimination.”
Earlier this month, the first daughter felt it necessary to denounce the white supremacists and neo-Nazis responsible for the violence taking place in Charlottesville - becoming the first of Trump's close advisors to do so.
"There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis. We must all come together as Americans -- and be one country UNITED. #Charlottesville" she wrote over two tweets just after 8 p.m., a few hours after she would have been able to sign back online following the Jewish sabbath. (Ivanka and her family are practicing Orthdox Jews).
1:2 There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.
- Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 13, 2017
2:2 We must all come together as Americans -- and be one country UNITED. #Charlottesville
- Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 13, 2017
It was later reported that both she and her husband Jared Kushner were on vacation in Vermont during Trump's remarks on the riots in Virginia, in which the president made a statement blaming "many sides" for the violence that took place.
On August 19, Ivanka tweeted her support of the protestors in Boston who were marching in opposition to a "Free Speech" rally staged by a right-wing group.
1:2 It was beautiful to see thousands of people across the U.S.A come together today to peacefully denounce bigotry, racism & anti-semitism.
- Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 20, 2017