Trump’s liberal maternity leave plan blasted as sexist towards men by HuffPo
An editor at The Huffington Post (HuffPo) is denouncing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for giving women a “slap in the face” by proposing they receive six weeks of paid maternity leave.
Speaking in a community center gymnasium, Donald Trump spoke of his desire for reform. “Child care is such a big problem. We’re going to solve that problem,” he said. “That means we need working mothers to be fairly compensated for their work and have access to affordable, quality child care for their kids. That’s what we’re doing.”
Trump may have shocked conservatives and Republicans who have fought against federal maternity leave with a proposal reportedly conceived by Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
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Ivanka introduced her father recalling an anecdote about a woman who left her children in a hot car because she couldn’t find child care as she went on an interview.
“Out of options, she made the tragic choice to leave her young children in a hot car while she attempted to secure the job in order to better the life of her family,” Ivanka Trump said. “As I have traveled around the country with my father, stories about the hardships caused by our existing child care system — one that is too expensive, too outdated and too inaccessible — come up time and time again.”
The new proposal calls for the federal government to guarantee six weeks of paid maternity leave for new mothers. The proposal, which also included tax breaks for stay-at-home mothers and childcare costs, is now under attack by HuffPo executive editor for business and technology Emily Peck.
Peck says it’s utterly appalling and deeply sexist.
“Trump’s solution for struggling American families leaves out men,” Peck writes in a piece published Wednesday. “More than any other problem with the plan … omitting half the population is its profoundest and most revelatory flaw, confirming once again Trump’s antiquated, sexist and harmful worldview: Men work. Women do the child-raising. The end.”
Trump — joined by five female members of Congress, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn,, who also spoke — said his maternity plan would be self-financing.
“Finally, our plan offers a crucial safety net for working mothers whose employers do not provide paid maternity leave. This solution will receive strong bipartisan support,” he said. “When you go to the other side, they will be OK. I’m hearing they will be. We will get them to be OK, right? And we will be completely self-financing.”
