This month, Ivanka Trump was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to promote America’s global women’s empowerment program. The first daughter wore a blue dress and smiled for the cameras as she spoke about her plan to “boost 50 million women in developing countries by 2025.” Meanwhile, in neighboring Sudan, women were boosting themselves: standing on cars and stages and chanting a peaceful revolution into existence. In a week in which Sudanese women led the charge in toppling a dictator and accused war criminal, the United States seemed remarkably out of touch with what women around the world wanted and needed.
The White House global economic program for women hopes to promote business opportunities. Indeed, it echoes a wider focus within the Trump administration on job creation and economic development, rather than on human rights, good governance, and other traditional staples of U.S. foreign policy. And while the focus on jobs has some merits, the Trump administration has—in a gesture to its evangelical support base—doubled down on the global gag rule, which denies U.S. government funding to organizations that provide abortions outside the United States. Many of these groups also support family planning, HIV treatment, primary health care, and nutrition programs—none of which can be funded if they provide abortions, even if using another donor’s money.
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