SAN ANTONIO (RNS) — For many of the 3,000 women gathered at Turning Point USA’s Women’s Leadership Summit in San Antonio this weekend (June 5-7), feminism isn’t just an unsavory byproduct of the radical left — it’s antithetical to God’s design for women.

“At its core, feminism is a worldview that treats many of the things that make women uniquely women as obstacles to overcome, rather than divine gifts to embrace,” said Erika Kirk, CEO of Turning Point USA and widow of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, in her opening speech Friday night.

The message that feminism pushes women to prioritize career over the God-ordained callings of marriage and motherhood was a common refrain at the summit. And to many attendees, it resonated.

“Ultimately, my goal is to become a mother and a wife. So, in a world that is very much dominated by the need to go into the workforce … it feels nice to be around people that are supporting something I’ve strived for my whole life,” Josie, a 19-year-old TPUSA chapter founder from Washington state, told RNS.

A Catholic, Josie — who wore an “it’s not political it’s Biblical” pin to the event and, for privacy, asked to go by her first name only — told RNS her goals are a result of her faith. But according to recent polls, her views are becoming increasingly unpopular among her female peers. A Public Religion Research Institute poll from April, for example, found that 43% of adult women under 30 claim no religious affiliation, a significant jump from 29% in 2013.

Relatedly, an NBC poll published last fall found that among young men who voted for President Trump, having children was the top factor (in a list of 13) that defined success. Among women who voted for Kamala Harris, having children ranked 12th. And more young women are leaning left — in 2024, 60% of young women ages 18 to 29 identified as or leaned Democratic, compared to 41% of young men, according to Gallup.

This data points to a growing gender divide that often splits along religious and political lines. And while leaders in the TPUSA orbit blame the promises of feminism and “girl boss” culture for tempting women away from church and conservatism, progressive critics say it’s the patriarchal values in many faith spaces pushing women out. Whatever the cause, it’s clear that while some polls suggest young men today are more religious than previous generations, conservative Christians are losing ground when it comes to young women.

A student engagement table at the Turning Point USA Women’s Leadership Summit, Friday, June 5, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)

“We have to win these women, and it is literally, you know, for me it’s mission critical, but I think for world civilization, it’s critical,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told RNS Friday afternoon as she prepared for her speech that evening. “You don’t have to be against the violence of abortion to be able to look at the statistics and say we have a serious problem here, with men going so hard right and women going so hard left.”

It’s in this divisive context that Turning Point USA is working to appeal to young women through targeted events and a cadre of conservative Christian women influencers. While there’s little evidence that this strategy is attracting women who have already left religion, it seems to be activating conservatives who, before now, may not have been politically engaged; on night one of the Women’s Summit, most attendees raised their hands to signal it was their first time there.

Two of those first-timers were Madelyn Snodgrass from Texas and Aubrianna Schmidt from California. Both 16, the attendees told RNS they became involved in TPUSA in recent months; Snodgrass after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, and Schmidt after watching Erika Kirk speak at her husband’s memorial.

Aubrianna Schmidt, left, and Madelyn Snodgrass at the Turning Point USA Women’s Leadership Summit, Saturday, June 6, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)

“She said something along the lines of, ‘you’re not too young, get involved, start a chapter,’” said Schmidt. “I was like, you know what, yeah, I’m gonna do that.”

Several attendees told RNS that part of the summit’s appeal was being in person with like-minded women. The mood was light on Friday as attendees perused booths of health supplements, patriotic merch and sparkly cowboy hats. Walls and posters displayed slogans like “RESTORE Masculinity RESPECT Femininity” and “GET MARRIED START A FAMILY.” Teens spun in the ballroom aisles as Taylor Swift and Christian worship music blasted on loudspeakers.

But despite the festival-like atmosphere, the summit was also punctuated by serious moments. Days before the event, a man was arrested for threatening to bomb the event; a heckler interrupted Kirk’s speech on the summit’s first day, and about 50 protesters mobilized by a local progressive activism group gathered outside the hotel on day two.

People demonstrate against the Turning Point USA’s Women’s Leadership Summit, Saturday, June 6, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)

Attendees framed protests as evidence that their views are under attack and as emblematic of the instability beyond the conservative world. Several young attendees told RNS they were apprehensive about growing violence on the left. Other top concerns — including affordability, mental health and the difficulty of finding a job and a spouse — added to a general desire for purpose, clarity and fulfillment.

“Gen Z is really searching for answers to existential questions,” said 26-year-old activist and TPUSA keynote speaker Riley Gaines, who discusses politics, faith and motherhood on her podcast The Riley Gaines Show. “What is my purpose. Why am I here?”

Amid the uncertainty, TPSUA aims to provide answers to young women by platforming influencers like Gaines who exemplify their model for Christian womanhood. A former collegiate swimmer, Gaines has made her career advocating against trans women in women’s sports and bathrooms; at least two state laws relating to “women’s single sex spaces” have been named after Gaines.

Some attendees before programming at the Turning Point USA Women’s Leadership Summit, Friday, June 5, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)

In the TPUSA orbit, she’s a celebrity. And alongside peers like Make America Healthy Again pioneer Alex Clark and the Daily Wire influencer Isabel Brown, she showcases a blueprint for Christian women that allows for a career but prioritizes motherhood, femininity and traditional gender roles. Women can have both, Gaines told RNS, but should seek flexible careers to make it manageable. Brown, who, like Gaines, is a young mother, agreed.

“I would venture to guess that every mother standing on this stage this weekend would, without hesitation, tell you that our greatest legacy … will forever and always be the next generation of saints that we were called to raise,” said Brown from the stage on Saturday.

To Brown, that calling is best exemplified by Jesus’ mother, Mary, who “never had a corporate career.”

Though several speakers encouraged attendees to marry young and have as many babies as possible (and at least one speaker invoked the “Quiverfull” notion of babies as arrows in spiritual warfare), they weren’t telling their audience to quit their jobs, give up pants and become tradwives. During her speech, Hawkins said both second-wave feminism and the sanitized social media myth of the tradwife have deceived women. But across multiple sessions, the message was clear: A woman’s career should never come at the expense of motherhood.

And, speakers added, Christian womanhood comes with other expectations, too; some come highly recommended (staying away from vaccines, seed oils, birth control and IVF) and others are non-negotiable (rejecting abortion, same-sex marriage and trans rights).

In this sphere, the latter aren’t just political preferences, they’re biblical truths, or what faith and politics podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey called “soul-level issues” from the stage on Friday. By framing views about marriage, sex, gender and abortion as undisputed scriptural mandates, TPUSA partners and influencers aim to offer clarity and structure to young women searching for firm footing during a time of major societal disruptions.

And if you ask Women’s Leadership Summit attendees, few exemplify that steadiness better than Erika Kirk, especially in the wake of her husband’s assassination last year. In the mainstream world, Kirk continues to be heavily scrutinized, both from the left and from her own party. But here, she’s the ultimate example of conservative Christian womanhood: She’s feminine without being feminist, has a career but frames it as secondary to her calling as a mother and couches it all in religious terms.

“To the women in this room who are a Christian, it’s actually quite simple,” she said from the podium on Friday. “The world will say your life belongs to you. It does not. Your life belongs to Christ.”