Mike Pence tweeted a picture of his coronavirus 'taskforce' and it doesn't include a single woman
Vice President Mike Pence, who was controversially named coronavirus czar despite the fact that he doesn't actually seem to believe in science nor have any background in medicine, tweeted a picture last week of a "very productive meeting" of the "White House Coronavirus Taskforce".
But people quickly pointed out that there was something a bit odd about the attendees photographed.
The image showed 19 people sitting around a table, all of whom are men. In the periphery of the picture, we see another handful of brogue-clad feet, which appear to belong to even more men. Men for days! Pence (who famously refuses to spend time alone with women other than his wife) presumably loves to see it.
Many people, including presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, were quick to point out this bizarre set-up.
And before you say it, it turns out that women are actually highly represented in this field, so no it wouldn't have been hard for them to find one or two to include.
(Unlike some of the men included, whose qualifications elude us...)
This isn't just about the optics either. Not including women in discussions around public health can have dire consequences (mainly for women).
Others also noticed the distinct lack of racial representation too.
There was a different picture also circulating, which appeared to be of the same meeting, which included one woman among the sea of white men. Said photo appears to show participants praying.
Pray away the coronavirus, why not? Maybe that's the solution no one's thought of...
(Spoiler: it's not. Since the pictures were posted, two people have died of coronavirus in the USA and infections are now approaching 90,000.)
The Twitter thread also mentioned that Trump's "number one priority" was to "protect the health and well-being of the American people", which is why he was holding the meeting in the first place. It's an interesting turn of events after Trump's statement on coronavirus last week in which he said that it would be cured by a "miracle" and will just "disappear".
Perhaps the miracle real miracle we need is ending the patriarchy.