Emily Jashinsky of the Washington Examiner details a new campaign from the Independent Women’s Forum targeting sexist political attacks.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., aren’t exactly friends, but you’ll find them in close quarters on a new website.
Independent Women’s Voice, the 501(c)(4) nonprofit affiliate of the conservative Independent Women’s Forum, recently launched Champion Women, a project described on its site as “a movement committed to championing the ideas and amplifying the voices of all women.” Alongside Sanders and Gillibrand, you’ll find HLN host Ashleigh Banfield, Carly Fiorina, and other women from across the political spectrum.
“We’ve all noticed how degraded the public conversation has become, and especially it became clear when it came to how women were being discussed in the political arena. The responses to women were obviously coarse, sexualized, personal, ad hominem, and to some degree, we were becoming used to it,” IWV President Tammy Bruce told me by phone on Thursday, explaining what motivated her group to launch the project.
“When we say this is not partisan,” she emphasized, “we mean it.” …
… Clearly sensitive to concerns the group’s efforts might be mistaken as an encroachment on free expression, or a way to coddle women, Bruce insists, “It’s not about what you can and cannot say, it’s asking everybody to be more conscious about how we’re engaging.”
“Please criticize women and their ideas and their policies,” she said.
