¶ … executive office should influence women's rights largely depends on the political climate. The executive can and should balance the powers of the legislature and the judicial branch, as per the Constitution. Moreover, women's rights are universal and immutable. If any one branch infringes on the rights of women, it is up to one or both of the other branches to curb that infringement and ensure that gender discrimination is fully abolished. Unfortunately, the current political climate in the United States is frightfully unbalanced. The same political party is in control of the legislative branch and executive, and is poised to skew the judicial branch towards its conservative and sometimes misogynistic views. In the case of Trump, the executive can technically and legally pass executive orders like the global gag rule. This does not make the executive's powers right or ethical, but legally it is difficult to challenge Trump when Obama also used his executive powers to facilitate or implement policy.
The current climate in Washington seems poised to revert to a patriarchal ethic, giving rise to clear concerns about the rights of women. Women should be guaranteed equal pay by law, and should be guaranteed freedom from violence, as well as freedom of choice. These are issues that should logically, ethically, and legally be ensconced not just by executive orders, which can be tenuous, but by federal legislation and Supreme Court decisions that reflect the tenets of the Constitution. If the Supreme Court, Congress, and the President are all fervently patriarchal, then it becomes increasingly difficult to prevent an erosion of women's rights at the federal level. The burden then falls upon state governments to pass laws favoring wage parity and reproductive rights, but even state governments cannot necessarily be trusted to diverge from the conservative agenda that is patently anti-woman. Given the Trump problem, grassroots organizations will need to place continual pressure on state and federal lawmakers, either via fundraising and lobbying or through the justice system by helping cases reach the Supreme Court.
