It’s official. Donald Trump has been voted president of the United States, decisively winning the election against democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Already, people are asking what this will mean for women. Right now, ‘Trump views on women’ is a breakout search term on Google, and ‘women’s rights’ is a related topic under his name. This is likely driven by the fact that Trump has made more than a few misogynistic remarks throughout his career.
Just week Trump was criticised for making a ‘threatening’ statement in which he vowed to protect women - even if they didn't like it. He told the MAGA rally that he'd been warned by staff to not make his 'inappropriate' comments - but he did it anyway.
This could explain the striking gender gap that was reported when it came to support for Kamala Harris and Trump. Last month, Grazia travelled to swing state Pennsylvania to explore how this gender divide was affecting relationships and playing out in people’s homes. Last week, a Harris campaign caused a stir when it encouraged wives to vote differently from their Trump-supporting husbands. Actress Julia Roberts voiced the ad and said: ‘You can vote any way you want. And no one will ever know.’
But what has Trump said about women in the past? And what will this mean for his presidency? We’ve broken some of them down below…
Abortion
Abortion turned out to be one of the hottest election issues. In 2022, Supreme Court justices appointed by Trump voted to end the right to abortion, meaning states can now ban or restrict access to them. Trump takes credit for this.
‘After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,’ Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social. ‘Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing,’ he added.
Trump has shifted his views on abortion throughout his career. In 1999, he told the TV show Meet the Press, ‘I’m very pro-choice.’ But by 2016, Trump was the Republican president and against abortion access. ‘I am pro-life, and I will be appointing pro-life judges,’ he said during the final debate of 2016.
In April this year, he said the court's landmark decision means the issue is now left up to voters in individual states. ‘My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land.'
Healthcare
In his first campaign as president, Trump supported getting rid of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – sometimes called Obama care - which expanded coverage for many women, including maternity care and mental health services.
Gender pay gap
The Trump administration worked to repeal an executive order made by President Barack Obama that forces large companies of 100 employees or more to report the wages they pay their employees based on race and gender. In 2017, Trump reversed the ruling and blocked income data collection for companies because his administration believed it was ‘unnecessarily burdensome’ on the companies.
Plus, the gender pay gap was reportedly wider than the national average in Trump’s administration than the national average. According to analysis by The 19th, the median salary for male staffers was $106,000 compared with $72,700 for women, meaning women earned about 69 cents for every $1 earned by a male counterpart, compared with a national average of about 82 cents per $1.
The domestic load
Trump has made no secret of the fact that he refuses to do the necessary work of parenting. In 2005, he told Howard Stern ‘I like kids. I mean, I won’t do anything to take care of them. I’ll supply funds and she’ll take care of the kids. It’s not like I’m gonna be walking the kids down Central Park.’ Meanwhile in 2005, he told a radio host that a man who changes diapers is acting 'like the wife.'
There's also something to be said about the fact Trump selected JD Vance as his running mate, who caused a controversy when clips resurfaced of him calling women without children 'childless cat ladies.'
Women's safety
In 2019, the Trump administration changed the definitions of domestic violence and sexual assault, with campaigners at the time warning the move rolled back women’s rights by half a century.
The Trump Justice Department’s definition only considered physical harm that constitutes a felony or misdemeanour to be domestic violence – meaning other forms of domestic violence such as coercive control, psychological abuse, and manipulation no longer fell under the department’s definition.
The MeToo movement
In 2018, Trump said believes the reaction to the allegations of sexual assault and other misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh makes it ‘a very scary time for young men in America.’
Then in a 2018 rally in Pennsylvania, Trump went as far as to mock the MeToo movement. ‘Pennsylvania hasn’t been won for many years by Republicans, but every Republican thinks they’re going to win Pennsylvania,’ he said, according to CNN. ‘I used an expression—you know, there’s an expression, but under the rules of MeToo I’m not allowed to use that expression anymore. I can’t do it.’
What else has Donald Trump said about women?
As if that wasn't enough, we've rounded up some of the other things Donald Trump has said about women over the years...
‘I'm automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the p*ssy. You can do anything.’ (Secret video recording, 2005)
On Me Too:
‘You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women. If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you're dead. … You've got to be strong. You've got to be aggressive. You've got to push back hard. You've got to deny anything that's said about you. Never admit.’ (Via Bob Woodward's Fear: Trump in the White House)
‘All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me - consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected.’ (Daily News, 2004)
‘26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?’ (Twitter, 2013)
‘You have to treat 'em like shit.’ (New York magazine, 1992)
‘Women are really a lot different than portrayed. They are far worse than men, far more aggressive and boy, can they be smart!’ (The Art of the Comeback, 1997)