Life

Ivanka Trump To Take On Ambiguous White House Role

Ivanka Trump, role unspecified, sharing a moment with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Image by Getty Images

By Phoebe Maltz Bovy March 21, 2017

Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, is getting a role of sorts in the White House. I say “of sorts” because the position itself is ambiguous: She’ll have an office and access to private information, but won’t be paid. Best as I can tell, this new role is essentially a continuation of her existing, as-yet-unexplained role as a much-photographed presence at meetings with world leaders.

If this is a concern — and I think it is — it’s not just a question of nepotism. What concerns me is more the ambiguity. What is her position in her father’s administration? If it’s just that of loving daughter, then much criticism of her is misplaced. But if she’s part of the decision-making process, it’s well within our democratic rights to hold her accountable. If the American public isn’t clear on what her position entails, she remains in this strange zone where it seems rude to pay attention to her, but also politically negligent not to do so.

Then there’s the question of her not being paid a salary. Is this a relief, or itself a cause for concern? As Emily Jane Fox notes in Vanity Fair, “By not taking an official role, she is also not subject to the kind of ethics rules and standards White House employees, like [husband Jared] Kushner, have to comply with.”

There’s also something poignant about the woman embracing the phrase “Women Who Work” taking on a position with neither title nor salary.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at bovy@forward.com. She is the author of The Perils of “Privilege”, from St. Martin’s Press.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a former editor of the Sisterhood blog at the Forward. Her writing has appeared in several publications, including The New Republic and The Atlantic. Her book, “The Perils of ‘Privilege,’” was published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017. She has a PhD in French and French Studies from New York University, and has read a lot of 19th century French Jewish newspapers for a 21st century American.

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