politics

Kellyanne Conway Suggests Mothers Shouldn’t Take Jobs in the White House

Kellyanne Conway speaks at Politico’s Women Rule Summit in Washington, D.C. Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

On Wednesday, Kellyanne Conway told the audience at Politico’s Women Rule event that, thanks to Donald Trump’s victory, “It’s a great time to be a woman in America.” Women, she said, should “go for it” and “ask for what we think we deserve.” That is, unless they have children.

“My children are 12, 12, 8, and 7, which is bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea for mom going inside [the White House],” Conway said. “They have to come first and those are very fraught ages.” She then implied that the same standards should apply to all mothers who are seeking high-level jobs. When male colleagues suggested Conway take a White House job, she said, “I did politely mention to them that the question isn’t, ‘Would you take the job?’ … but ‘Would you want your wife to?’ And you really see their entire visage change. It’s like, oh, no, they wouldn’t want their wife to take that job.”

She added that all women are “welcome in the Trump White House” and that the decision not to take an administrative job would be “my personal choice and not a demand on me.” But Conway’s comments seem to imply, as Ivanka Trump so boldly stated in a video endorsing her father’s maternity-leave policy, that “the most important job any woman can have is being a mother.”

Kellyanne Conway: Mothers Shouldn’t Take White House Jobs