Biden to establish Gender Policy Council on International Women’s Day. What to know
President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order Monday establishing a White House Gender Policy Council.
What it is: The council will function within the Executive Office of the President and play a role in foreign and domestic policy development. It will work with other policy councils to “advance gender equity and equality.”
Why it matters: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted gender inequities in the United States and “exacerbated barriers that have held back women, especially women of color,” the White House says. It’s also forced many women out of the workforce and required them to “manage virtual schooling and absorb additional caregiving responsibilities.”
In January, roughly 275,000 women left the workforce, compared to 71,000 men, NBC News reported.
“As the country continues to grapple with the pandemic and reckons with the scourge of systemic racism, President Biden knows that we need a government-wide focus on uplifting the rights of women and girls in the United States and around the world, restoring America as a champion for gender equity and equality,” the White House says.
Its goals: The council aims to fight “systemic bias and discrimination” and sexual harassment; address “barriers to women’s participation in the labor force;” decrease wage gaps; support “care workers;” ensure health care access; combat gender-based violence; promote equity in education and leadership; and advance “gender equality globally through diplomacy, development, trade and defense.”
Who will lead: Jennifer Klein and Julissa Reynoso will serve as co-chairpersons of the council. Klein has worked on women’s issues for more than 25 years and served in the State Department and as an adviser to Hillary Clinton when she was first lady. Reynoso is First Lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff and served as ambassador to Uruguay during former President Barack Obama’s administration.
What it will do: The executive order requires Klein and Reynoso to submit to Biden a government-wide strategy to “address gender in policies, programs and budgets” and an annual report measuring the strategy’s progress. The council will also include a special assistant to the president and senior adviser on gender-based violence to “prevent and respond to gender-based violence, wherever it occurs.”
“The Executive Order also requires engagement with non-profit and community-based organizations, state and local government officials, Tribal Nations, foreign government officials and multilateral organizations.”
Why today: March 8 is International Women’s Day, which celebrates the achievements of women, raises awareness for gender equality and marks a call for “accelerated gender parity.”
What else to know: Councils like this are not new, but Biden has given his more authority. The first was established under former President Bill Clinton, and every Democratic president since has established a version, The New York Times reports. Former President Donald Trump disbanded the council established under Obama’s administration, NPR reports.
Another executive order: Biden will sign a second executive order Monday to “ensure education free from sexual violence.” It directs the Education Department to review all of its existing policies and regulations to ensure they are in line with the Biden administration’s “policy that students be guaranteed education free from sexual violence.”
It also directs the department to “evaluate the Title IX regulation issued under the previous administration and agency action taken pursuant to that regulation, to determine whether the regulation and agency action are consistent with the policies of the Biden-Harris Administration.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 6:39 AM with the headline "Biden to establish Gender Policy Council on International Women’s Day. What to know."
