George W. Bush’s daughter says the former president ‘was a feminist’

Now with children of her own, Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George W. Bush, says she has learned a lot about parenting from her father, whom she described as “a feminist.”

One of the things Bush Hager has gleaned from her dad is how to raise strong daughters — an important skill for a mother of two little girls: 20-month-old Poppy and 4-year-old Mila.

“I think the thing that my parents did so well — and it might surprise people, although I don’t know why — is that they really wanted us to be curious, independent thinkers,” she told People. “They wanted to raise us to have our own views and to be able to articulate them.”

Reflecting on her childhood, the NBC “Today” correspondent said she believes the elder Bush had a feminist bent.

“People laugh at this, but I think my dad was a feminist,” she said. “He showed us that we could be whatever we wanted to be. I want my girls to feel that way. I want them to feel strong and capable and feel like they can conquer the world.”

Growing up, the former first daughter told the magazine, she and her twin sister Barbara Pierce Bush “always felt sorry for the boys in class because our dad led us to believe that we were the smartest, most capable kids out there.”

This isn’t the first time Bush Hager has mentioned “feminism,” which just means equality between the sexes, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, but has morphed into a popular buzzword used today by the left to blast conservative ideals.

“There is nothing wrong with the word ‘feminism,’” Bush Hager said during a South by Southwest panel in 2015, The Daily Beast reported. “Anyone that’s for women — which I am, as a woman, as the mother of a little girl, and as someone who’s worked with women all over the world — what’s wrong with supporting women?”

“I would say I’m a feminist,” she continued, “and a proud one.”

When all is said and done, though, Bush Hager said her top priority is to “raise loving humans.”

“Her teacher said that Mila’s really empathetic and that when somebody in her class feels sad, she feels sad, and when somebody’s happy, she feels happy,” she explained to People. “Like I’m going to do right now, I broke into tears, because, to me, that’s what’s most important is to raise really kind girls — and I’m so happy my girls are kind.”