With Karoline Leavitt departing as press secretary, the White House loses one of its most conspicuous women. Leavitt, a 29 year-old mother of two, says she feels she “cannot be the best mom” to her young children “while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary,” so she must pursue a less demanding line of work. She has not, of course, abandoned her career altogether; she will return to President Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc. Still, her statement is notable for its outlook. Leavitt describes two choices, irrevocably in conflict: She can either be good at her job, or be a good mom — and motherhood won.

Conservatives have always let women into the vanguard on a conditional basis. A right-wing woman earns some status by conforming to gender norms, and she often finds the most professional traction by defending her own subordination. Phyllis Schlafly was a genuine anti-feminist, invested in her definition of the family; but in taking up that fight, she “foreclosed her chance” at the foreign policy career she’d wanted, historian Nicole Hemmer argues. For the women of the White House, power still comes with a tradeoff. Their roles hinge not only on their competence, or their commitment to Trump, but their compliant femininity.

Leavitt leaves the briefing room as the right’s woman problem becomes harder and harder to ignore. Pete Hegseth is blocking promotions for women in the military while his wife, Jennifer, trails him around the Pentagon. On a reality tv show, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told his teenage daughter that he did not want her to go to Harvard, because it “can take good young girls like you and, I think, corrupt their minds.” White House aide Natalie........

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