Pavlich: Ivanka rises above

This week a new “art” exhibit opened in Washington, D.C. It features a young woman, who is supposed to resemble senior presidential adviser Ivanka Trump, vacuuming crumbs from the floor in a pink bowed dress. Those who visit the exhibit are given an opportunity to throw crumbs at the Ivanka look-alike, green lighting her dehumanization. 

The “artistic” display is by a woman, Jennifer Rubell, and a project of CulturalDC. 

“Entering the gallery space, viewers will notice a woman bearing a striking resemblance to that Ivanka, cleaning a plush pink carpet. In front of this scene is a white pedestal with a giant pile of crumbs on top. The public is invited to throw crumbs onto the carpet, watching as Ivanka elegantly vacuums up the mess, her smile never wavering. This process repeats itself for the entire duration of the performance,” a press release on the project states. “The viewer throwing crumbs, and Ivanka vacuuming them, is not a stand-in for one feeling, one relationship or one point of view toward this powerful and sexualized female form. It is intentionally open to multiple, often contradictory interpretations that are as critical of the interpreter as they are of the subject.”

{mosads}

Sexualized female form? Certainly sexist, to say the least. 

“Women can choose to knock each other down or build each other up. I choose the latter,” Ivanka tweeted about the display. 

In other words, she’s rising above it and doing so through her words, her behavior and her work at the White House. 

While feminists remain silent or worse, celebrate this ironically sexist display, Ivanka is quietly making history and developing a lasting legacy. 

On Dec. 21, President Trump signed bipartisan criminal justice reform, known as the First Step Act. Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, who also serves as a senior adviser to the president, played a key role in shepherding the legislation to success and passage on Capitol Hill. 

“Everybody said it couldn’t be done.  They said the conservatives won’t approve it. They said the liberals won’t approve it. They said nobody is going to approve it; everybody is going to be against it. It’s been many, many years, numerous decades, and nobody came close. And I just want to thank all of the people standing behind me. I want to thank my daughter Ivanka, my son-in-law Jared Kushner,” Trump said during the signing ceremony. 

In January, Ivanka helped push through a series of bills to combat human trafficking that “punish perpetrators, protect and support victims, and prevent these horrific crimes.” In 2017, she gave a speech about the horrors of human trafficking in front of the United Nations. 

Also in January, the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act passed Congress in bipartisan fashion, opening up economic markets to women around the world. 

“We are taking robust action to advance economic opportunities for women and increase prosperity [and] stability around the world,” Ivanka said about the legislation. “Thank you to the many Members of Congress, NGOs and USAID who worked tirelessly with us on this transformative legislation.” 

Last year President Trump signed an executive order creating the National Council for the American Worker. Again, Ivanka was a driving force behind the move, which incentivized companies to work with students on developing skills necessary for the modern work force.

“Our Nation is facing a skills crisis. There are currently more than 6.7 million unfilled jobs in the United States, and American workers, who are our country’s most valuable resource, need the skills training to fill them,” the executive order states. “It shall be the policy of the executive branch to work with private employers, educational institutions, labor unions, other non-profit organizations, and State, territorial, tribal, and local governments to update and reshape our education and job training landscape so that it better meets the needs of American students, workers, and businesses.”

Ivanka’s work is never-ending. Whether it’s meeting with workers looking to bridge a skills gap, visiting female engineers building innovative robotics, speaking to leaders around the world about the importance of female entrepreneurship and much more, Ivanka has been quietly racking up long-term successes for the country.

The attacks on Ivanka will continue and the loudest “feminist” voices may never come to her defense, but the millions of people she’s impacted through her work will be grateful for years to come. Especially the women. 

Pavlich is the editor for Townhall.com and a Fox News contributor.