What exactly is Ivanka Trump’s White House role? No one has said for sure — including Ivanka Trump.
Since January, President Trump’s eldest daughter has been a highly visible member of her father’s presidency. She has participated in roundtable discussions, flown on Air Force One and met with world leaders. Next month, she will attend an economic summit in Germany on behalf of the Trump administration, at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
And perhaps most notably, she recently moved into her own office in the West Wing and gained high-level security clearance — despite not being a government employee and, therefore, not subject to ethics rules. The president’s elder daughter has said that, despite her lack of an official White House job title, she will “voluntarily” comply with those rules.
“I will continue to offer my father my candid advice and counsel, as I have for my entire life,” Ivanka Trump told Politico in a statement about the move to the West Wing office. “While there is no modern precedent for an adult child of the president, I will voluntarily follow all of the ethics rules placed on government employees.”
Amid this ambiguity, Vox reporter Liz Plank unearthed a 2014 campaign promoted on IvankaTrump.com from when Trump still controlled the daily decisions for her clothing and accessories brand. In it, she encourages woman to state their job title — or job titles.
“To join the #WomenWhoWork conversation, record yourself giving us your ‘extended job title,’ followed by your name and actual job title,” the website instructs. “Post the video to your social channels and tag a few of the women who inspire you to encourage them to follow suit.”
The goal of the initiative was to “celebrate” the modern working woman, starting with proudly acknowledging their roles in the office and at home.
“The women I know who are working today are working hard to create and build the lives that they want to live, and there’s nothing more compelling and powerful than that,” Ivanka said in an accompanying video. “Let’s show the world what it looks like to be a woman who works.”
The irony that Trump won’t or can’t elaborate on her White House duties, while working at “the nation’s highest office,” should not be lost, according to Plank.
“Trump’s brand emphasizes empowering women at work, and there is nothing feminist about a woman stepping in to do all the work with no credit or pay,” Plank wrote. “If Trump truly wants to preserve her commitment to the cause she supposedly takes the most pride in, she would disclose what her own work entails.”