In a rare moment of bipartisanship during President Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this year, Democratic female lawmakers rose to their feet to join the president in celebrating the fact that more women are in the workforce today than ever before. “No one has benefitted more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 percent of the new jobs created in the last year,” he said.

On International Women’s Day, women in the United States and around the world are enjoying today’s era of opportunity and entrepreneurship. Here at home, thanks to a great economy and lower regulations, women entrepreneurs are thriving; the number of women-owned businesses in America has grown by nearly 60 percent over the past decade. Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump is spearheading a new effort that will impact 50 million women in developing nations over the next several years: the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP). Through this program, USAID is putting $50 million into a fund that will invest in helping women across the world get ahead.

W-GDP supports workforce development and vocational training to help women find good jobs. It promotes entrepreneurship by increasing their access to capital and global markets and bridges the gap between business ownership and financing. It also works to eliminate the legal and cultural barriers that prevent or discourage women from working.

IVANKA TRUMP: EMPOWER WOMEN TO FOSTER FREEDOM

This new initiative is all about empowering women everywhere to prosper and live the way they want. It stands in stark contrast to the policies championed by darling of the far-left, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. and endorsed by most 2020 Democrat presidential contenders. They promote a radical agenda of open borders and infanticide, putting our communities and children in danger. They embrace socialist policies like government-run health care and a Green New Deal that would cost nearly $100 trillion saddling their families and children’s future with taxes and staggering national debt. Their agenda does nothing for women but hurt them, victimize them and rob them of opportunity.

Democrats don’t seem to care that socialist policies like these have devastated other countries many times over by dictating that elites in government know what is best for every individual. Socialism means government dependency, rationed resources, and exorbitant taxation. It means the destruction of every incentive to achieve.

In Venezuela, socialism has caused unimaginable human suffering, leaving people with little access to basic supplies like food and inflation that has blown past 1.3 million percent. Once the most prosperous nation in Latin America, an incredible 90 percent of Venezuelans now live below the poverty line, with no chance to get ahead. As a result, many Venezuelan women have been forced to leave their children behind to seek work in neighboring countries. Others have turned in desperation to sex work just to provide for their families.

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The reality of AOC’s socialist “green dream” is a nightmare that Venezuelan women know all too well. Capitalism and entrepreneur-based initiatives like the W-GDP will help them achieve the dreams they were long denied as they fight for democracy and freedom.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it’s not enough to applaud the contributions of women worldwide. We should also recognize and celebrate the opportunities and financial independence women enjoy because of entrepreneurial capitalism. Socialism is the antithesis of opportunity and it’s time to reject this failed and dangerous idea once and for all.