Why I will read Ivanka Trump’s new book, Women Who Work - Women's Agenda

Why I will read Ivanka Trump’s new book, Women Who Work

From Tracey Spicer to Mia Freedman and Lindy West, there are a number of excellent new memoirs from journalists and businesswomen available right now.

But today (we’ll come to the others on Women’s Agenda, we promise) I want to share a little more about Ivanka Trump’s new book, Women Who Work.

In doing so, I’m pretty sure I’m going to frustrate plenty of you in the process. Why Ivanka Trump, when there are Australian women I can focus on, and women more of us can actually relate to?

Well I’m starting with Ivanka because this book is newsworthy right now, given it’s been written by the daughter of a US president and published just 100 days into his term. It’s not yet available in Australia, at least not according to the apps I use to download books, but it’s available elsewhere and it’s getting people talking — possibly not because the career tips on offer are going to change your life, but rather due to what can be gleaned about how she thinks.

I’m going to read it because Ivanka Trump is increasingly emerging as one of the most influential women in the world, despite not being elected into any relevant position, or having any particular mandate other than family connections. Ivanka has ‘her father’s ear’, according to the New York Times today. She’s his chief confidante, has an office in the White House, and regularly picks up the phone to speak with relevant Cabinet officials to discuss issues that concern her. Recently, UN ambassador Nikki R. Haley was on the receiving end of such a call, to discuss getting humanitarian aid into Syria.

Ivanka’s also openly stated that she’ll take her father on over certain issues, particularly in private. While she doesn’t always ‘win’ such arguments, she believes that, maybe, she’s slightly modified his position. Some sources quoted by the Times claim that Ivanka can criticise her father in a way he will not accept from others. So that’s something.

“I’m his daughter. I’ve known him my entire life. He trusts me. I don’t have a hidden agenda. I’m not looking to hit him up to help myself,” she’s been quoted as saying.

Ivanka’s also promised to focus on gender equality at home and abroad in her White House role. She’s expected to take responsibility for creating a paid parental leave system in the US – which currently ranks as the least progressive OECD country on maternity leave – along with more affordable childcare, and the gender pay gap. She’s spoken about creating more support mechanisms and even a fund for female entrepreneurs across the world.

Last week, Ivanka represented the US at the W20 event, focusing on female business leaders and economic empowerment. She appeared alongside Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde. I’m not convinced she should have been there, but if she can filter some of what was discussed on women’s workforce participation back to the White House, then that’s a start.

So given Ivanka’s influence and her stated platform as an advocate for women and children, I’m keen to find out  just how in touch she is with the challenges of working women, by exploring the career tips and life stories she shares in Women Who Work.

The title is terrible. It’s not exactly catchy, is it? She’s stating the obvious about what the majority of women in western countries like the United States actually do, day-to-day: they work. The problem is that for millions of women who do work they’re not always able to take on the advice of a ‘self help’ book to change their destiny or to get a better deal. Indeed, millions of such women in the United States are earning $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage.

The title stems from a social media campaign Ivanka’s been promoting in recent years, particularly as she’s transitioned to promoting a lifestyle company and clothing line. The #WomenWhoWork hashtag is supposed to inspire and empower women “to architect lives that they love, lives that are uniquely their own and not based on the expectations of anyone other than themselves.” In Ivanka’s world, at least on Instagram and on her own website, that involves being perfectly groomed, having photogenic children and having the time (and the photographer) available to capture those ‘everyday’ moments that occur between heading to the White House, going off to the Zoo, meeting world leaders and sitting on a golf course. She has 3.5 million followers. People are paying attention.

Making some new friends in DC! 🐘

A post shared by Ivanka Trump (@ivankatrump) on

 

Early reviews of the book suggest you can learn a lot about what the ‘First Daughter’ does day to day including: how she manages self care (she meditates, 20 minutes every morning); what she’ll fight for in the White House (the economic empowerment of women and girls); what she learnt from her father (“if you love what you do, and work really, really hard, you will succeed”); her thoughts on work like balance (it’s not possible); and the difficulties she’s faced since the election: “It is difficult to step away from businesses that I have worked hard to build and that I believe in so fully, but the potential to improve the lives of countless women and girls has caused my to fundamentally consider where my work will do the greatest good.”

A number of different, inspirational, women are also quoted in the book, including conservationist Jane Goodall. “What you do makes a difference,” Goodall is quoted as saying. “And you have to decide what difference you want to make.”

Goodall’s already issued a statement about the quote, saying that she was not aware that she’d be included but that she hopes Ivanka “will take the full import of my words to heard. She is in a position to do much good or terrible harm.” Goodall particularly noted legislation passed by previous governments to protect wildlife that have already been jeopardized by the Trump administration.

So I’m going to read Ivanka Trump’s book. I don’t expect to receive a review copy, so I’ll fork out the $15 or so that I expect it’ll cost me, clenching my teeth and hoping that the vast majority of that goes to the publisher (or maybe some humanitarian project assisting women and girls somewhere?). If Ivanka has the ear of a US president, then I want to know how she thinks as a ‘working woman’ – no matter how out of touch that thinking is with the realities of most women who are lucky enough to have a job.

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