JD Vance’s ‘childless cat lady’ attack on Kamala Harris rallies women

Here’s his full quote, via the Guardian:

We are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. And it’s just a basic fact if you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC—the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it.

Now that Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee and Vance is on the Trump ticket, Vance’s comment has struck a nerve with women. To start, whether or not a woman has children obviously has nothing to do with her qualifications for a job—including the job of president. Vance seems to say that a woman is not a full member of society until she’s given birth. And Vance’s conclusion that women without children are “miserable” is far from the truth; single women who don’t have children are one of the happiest demographics.

Then there’s the fact that 59-year-old Harris does, in fact, have children. In 2014, she married now-Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and became stepparent to his two children, Ella and Cole Emhoff; they famously call her “Momala.” Vance’s comments seem to question the legitimacy of blended families—even though Vance’s own running mate, Trump, has five children from three marriages. Ella and Doug Emhoff’s ex-wife Kerstin Emhoff both rushed to Harris’s defense. Kerstin Emhoff shared her appreciation for Harris as a “co-parent” for more than 10 years. Ella Emhoff, 25, posted on Instagram: “How can you be childless when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I[?]”

Then, add another layer: Republicans in recent months have attempted to legislate access to IVF and other family-building technologies (while also trying to control whether women can choose to not have children). To Vance, it seems, the only legitimate way to form a family and, thus, to participate in society is to give birth to children “naturally.” (His original comment also attacked Buttigieg, who adopted twins with his husband in 2021.)

Since the interview resurfaced, women have responded in outrage. “No president of America has ever given birth—I don’t understand why it’s suddenly an issue,” one widely-shared tweet said. Republican commentator Meghan McCain has started warning conservatives that the comments have offended GOP women. And actor Jennifer Aniston, who for decades was hounded by tabloids speculating about whether or not she was pregnant, chimed in: “Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too.”

People so often feel comfortable taking powerful women down a peg, in this case by going after one of the most personal choices a person can make. But the miserable “childless cat lady” has never been a stereotype rooted in reality, and it certainly doesn’t apply to Harris as she reaches a career pinnacle and could make history as the first female president. Voters can see through this flimsy line of attack and draw their own conclusions about the candidate spouting it.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

– Call to action. More than 100,000 people joined a Zoom call last night billed as a gathering of white women for Kamala Harris. Following the success of the Win With Black Women call for Harris, this gathering attempted to rally white women to support the Democratic candidate. The Hollywood Reporter

– Leading the charge. Equinor, with executive vice president and chief technology officer Hege Skryseth, tops the inaugural Fortune Leading the Charge list that ranks the top 25 high-growth, innovative, women-led companies in Europe by net income. Fortune

– No, thanks. The main reason that more adults under 50 are not likely to have children is because they don’t want them, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center. Sixty-four percent of young women don’t want kids; 50% of young men shared the sentiment. Fortune

– Not necessary. A new study shows that there is no survival advantage for most women with breast cancer to have double mastectomies; removing the healthy breast does not prevent cancer from spreading to the rest of the body. New York Times

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

– Amy Meister is stepping down as WeightWatchers’ chief medical officer after less than a year in the role. 

– Trevello World Holdings appointed Elizabeth Crabill as chief executive officer. Crabill had been chief executive officer of CIE Tours. She has also served as president of Travel Bound and GTA Americas.

– Kizik hired Elizabeth Drori as chief marketing officer. Most recently, Drori was global chief marketing officer at Sperry and general manager of its e-commerce business.

– The Ramey Agency promoted Michelle Hill to chief operating officer; previously, she was a partner of the company with a minority ownership stake.

ON MY RADAR

Candace Bushnell knows what Gen Z thinks of Sex And The City Nylon

These brothers were real estate hotshots. And predators, some women say New York Times

Kamala Harris and the threat of a woman’s laugh The Atlantic

PARTING WORDS

“I never play small, this is how I show up in life.”

— Sha’Carri Richardson, American track and field sprinter, on her Olympic comeback