‘Back to our roots’: Republican lawmakers are working to bring back feminism from the left

EXCLUSIVE: Republican women in Congress are fighting to change the decades-long narrative that portrays Democrats as the party of women, hoping that will outweigh significant gains in future elections.

“We need to get back to our roots as a women’s party,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, RN.Y., told Fox News Digital. “I don’t know why we ever let the Democrats hijack the narrative and claim to be the party of women. That’s stupid.”

Other Republican lawmakers who spoke to Fox News Digital for this story noted that the cost of living, a core issue for Republicans in the last election, is as much a women’s issue as anyone else’s.

Republicans have also passed several bills since winning that election that put women at the center of conservative policy changes transgender youth and border security.

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“You shouldn’t let the Democratic Party tell you they’re the party of women if they can’t even define what a woman is. So we’re going to continue to be strong advocates for young women and girls, whether it’s in professional spaces, in bathrooms, or in sports, ” said Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, referring to recently passed legislation that keeps biological student-athletes off women’s sports teams and locker rooms.

Hinson said she is “a working mom fighting for other working moms.”

“Women are often the most important decision makers in the household, for example. So when I think about economic indicators, how do we get more women into the workforce? How can we empower more women and families? How can we support more women in sports?” Hinson posed.

Historically, Malliotakis pointed out, it was the Republicans who led the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. She also pointed out that it is under the president Donald Trump that a museum dedicated to women’s history was approved.

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“President Trump approved the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum in 2020. And Joe Biden did nothing with it for four years,” Malliotakis said. “I pushed for the land transfer to build the Smithsonian Women’s Museum, and I think it makes perfect sense that we would be the party to do that, given our history.”

As a voting bloc, women have favored Democrats and the left in recent history.

Democrats also blamed Republicans for the conservative-leaning Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, a move that actually led to success in the 2022 midterm elections.

Progressives have historically also been the biggest proponents of the Equal Rights Amendment, legislation that was primarily pushed through during the second wave feminist movement.

However, Republican women like Rep. Nancy Mace, R-C., now argue that proposals like hers, which would deport illegal immigrants who commit sexual crimes against women and other Americans, is what is needed to protect women.

“MAGA is the new feminist,” Mace wrote on Xu this month.

Additionally, Rep. Julie Fedorchak, RN.D., one of the few Republican women in the freshman class of the 119th Congress, noted that her own story is a testament to the GOP’s meritocracy.

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“I was the top vote-getter in my entire state of anybody, as a woman, as the first congresswoman in our state. So I think more than anything, people want people who are ready for the job, who are competent and ready,” Fedorchak said .

“The cost of everything, making ends meet, helping women manage their multiple roles, getting government out of their lives, helping to strengthen the role of parents…these are the things that are women’s issues.”