It’s difficult to want to study hard as a woman in college when the government makes me feel like I should put down the textbook and instead pick up the pacifier. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Scott Yenor, a professor at Boise State University, to the Board of Trustees at the University of West Florida in January of this year. But based on what Yenor has publicly said before, it is clear he doesn’t hold the best opinion about career-oriented women.

“If we want a great nation, we should be preparing young women to become mothers,” Yenor said in a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in 2021. “Not finding every reason for young women to delay motherhood until they are established in a career or sufficiently independent.”

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If Yenor has the opportunity to bring this kind of thinking to the University of West Florida, how long before Desantis appoints someone similar to the USF Board of Trustees?

It doesn’t help that we elected President Donald Trump to lead our nation, someone with a past of making misogynistic statements.

These notions shared by leaders are harmful because they reduce women to their role in the household and nowhere else.

Rebecca Harris is a USF associate professor of economics who specializes in women and family studies. She said this rhetoric could reinforce old stereotypes, which could then lead to increased discrimination against women.

“To suggest that women should lower their educational aspirations and career expectations is going backward,” Harris said. “In spite of the strides women have made, though, there are still many stereotypes and cultural expectations that inhibit women’s ability to ‘get ahead’ in the workforce.”

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But to make matters worse, Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 21 repealing the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which was introduced in the 1960s to ensure equal pay and the protection of women and other groups from discrimination within the workplace. 

It’s hard to stay hopeful for my future career when my fate of whether or not I’m hired could all boil down to my gender.

“Repealing the Equal Opportunity Act could lead to increased discrimination, causing women to fear discrimination,” Harris said. “As a result, they may not even try to enter jobs or careers where they don’t feel protected anymore.”

Some men, such as Yenor and Trump, are attempting to push women back into the household by shaming them for prioritizing careers before a family. But this won’t work.

In Trump’s Agenda 47, he said he is pushing for education about nuclear families, the roles of mothers and fathers and the need to celebrate these differences. 

If I am bound to Trump’s ideals of a nuclear family, it’s goodbye to my career and hello stay-at-home mom. 

“Given today’s policies, or lack thereof, many women do have to choose between family and career,” Harris said. “Some men also have to make those choices, but societal expectations are such that the hard choices most often fall to women.”

But women shouldn’t be forced to choose between having a family or a career, especially when they’ve proven over time they can balance both. 

And we shouldn’t expect young women to eventually become mothers, either.

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Trump also plans for families to have a greater responsibility in their child’s education.

Homeschooling is an option Trump has tried to make more accessible for parents. As such, this is a choice that could force women into the domestic sphere.

“Certainly, we saw during the COVID- 19 lockdowns that the burden of helping students through school fell disproportionately on mothers,” Harris said. “That made it harder for them to carry out their workplace responsibilities.”

In 2020, The U.S Census Bureau found one in five adults were not working because COVID-19 affected their childcare arrangements. Women aged 25-44 were roughly three times as likely than their male counterparts to step away from work due to demands of childcare.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about enjoying the nuclear family lifestyle. But there’s something so discouraging about older men telling young women where they belong.

It feels like all hope is lost if you’re a woman in college looking forward to a fruitful career.