A group of Canadians is spearheading a global effort to bring women together under a banner of traditional family values.
They haven’t announced a title for this endeavour yet, but they’ve been building their global reach with professionals and activists and will officially launch the project this year, Ms. Kauder told The Epoch Times.
“We’re working on a global women’s conservative symposium and we’re going live in 2024,” she said.
“There are a lot of women that are doing boots-on-the-ground work and they need a coach. They need some kind of mentorship, someone they can listen to and say, ‘Hey, this is what I’m working on. What’s the next step and how do I get it there? What avenues do I take and do you have the contacts for me?’”
According to Ms. Kauder, politics and often culture have a trickle-down effect from decision-makers and leaders who aren’t in touch with the true lives of everyday people. She and her team want to change that and move the stream upwards.
“We want things to trickle up,” she said.
She admits it’s an ambitious goal to alter the mindset and public participation in Western politics. She’s recruited a couple of international political heavyweights to help lead that change.
Women’s Innate Determination
During her tour stop in Vancouver in November, Ms. Anderson told The Epoch Times that “strong women do not need the help of the state to get anywhere.”“It has more to do with what women are capable of. And once women make up their mind and they’re determined to do something, then you will have no idea what women actually will do, to what length they will go, to make that happen.”
Ms. Anderson grew up learning stories from her father. He was both a prisoner of war during World War II, after he was drafted into the German military at 16, and a political prisoner in newly formed East Germany afterward for speaking out against communism. Eventually escaping to West Germany, her father built a new life for his family.
Ms. Anderson said she remains haunted by the devastation she witnessed as a child when they were given permission to visit her parents’ former homeland, including the terror of not knowing whether they might be detained by corrupt border officials.
And as she saw the political climate in Germany shifting a decade ago, she decided to be a leader herself and ran for Parliament, she said.
“I would have never thought that it would get to me to such an extent as it did,” she said. “But that was a horrible feeling, not knowing what party I can vote for anymore, or who represents my interests. There was none. It was a pure act of self-defence to get involved myself. And here I am.”
As part of the Trinity Productions team, Ms. Anderson is eager to use her position to help encourage and train other women to find their voice and their calling.
So is Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a lawyer by trade, but a political activist by practice. She is best known for joining the farmers’ protests in her native Netherlands and using her popularity and platform to bring attention to their plight. Ms. Vlaardingerbroek has travelled throughout Europe to participate in other farmer protests, and other conservative rallies as well.
Forced to evaluate her own conservative values while studying law, Ms. Vlaardingerbroek said she was ridiculed and teased for disagreeing with her liberal professors. But the scrutiny helped build her up, and she is now on board with Ms. Kauder and the Trinity women’s project.
In an interview with The Epoch Times when she toured with Ms. Anderson in 2023, Ms. Vlaardingerbroek said she’s optimistic that women are ripe to participate in conservative leadership roles. And she has pledged to help that cause.
“I do see strong, conservative, female voices. But also, it’s about time because the majority of young women are still predominantly liberal,” she said.
“The intimidation game of all those labels we’ve been slapped with like fascist, Nazi, far right—all of that is starting to lose its power, and that’s a hopeful sign to me. Because if people stop being afraid of being called radical, then they’re going to speak out about things they care about. We’re seeing that sort of pushback finally in Europe, and that gives me hope.”
One of Ms. Kauder’s partners with Trinity is Bethan Nodwell.
Ms. Nodwell told The Epoch Times that seeing women join the front lines in business or the political arena is important. Meanwhile, she said just as vital is reclaiming traditional women’s spaces like bathrooms and female sports, while reversing feminism’s attitude toward motherhood and making it a valued, cultural standard again.
“I do think that [feminism] is part of the war on the West, ... part of the war on the family and the role of motherhood. [Feminism] says that [role] is insignificant, and women who are in the workforce are more worldly, smarter, they’re better. And it’s played into women’s insecurity for generations now,” she said.
‘Largest Ideological Split in History’
Forming a women’s coalition to train and equip other women for leadership roles is admirable, but not necessarily an easy task, says Canadian filmmaker Lauren Southern. She has seen the erosion of women’s spaces and influence in recent years. And as a conservative women’s podcaster, she has received her share of roadblocks and name-calling.“We’re facing the largest ideological split between men and women in all of history worldwide, with a sharp turn up towards liberal for women and a sharp turn down towards conservative for men,” Ms. Southern said in an interview.
“I think [Trinity Productions] are up against a pretty tough battle here, because culturally, more and more women are turning away from the right,” she said.
“They’re engaging with the online YouTube world, which is doing this very low form of politics and philosophy, all based on clickbait and gender wars. And whatever gets people the most mad is going to generate them the most engagement.”
Ms. Southern said today’s progressive trends promote the idea that for women to be successful, they’re encouraged to “become a man, to be this girl boss, to take on masculine traits.”
“Women are really stuck between a rock and a hard place when you’ve got this absurd progressive view of women that’s essentially asking them to be men,” she said.
“I hope [Trinity Productions] have the support they rightfully deserve within a movement that is struggling with this question of women for a long time and even more so today.”
