White House Council on Women and Girls

Last updated
Council on Women and Girls
Council overview
FormedMarch 11, 2009
Preceding Council
Dissolved2017
Headquarters White House
Employees10
Council executive
  • Chair
  • Executive Director
Parent Council Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
Website The White House Council on Women and Girls

The White House Council on Women and Girls was an advisory council within the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. It was established by Executive Order 13506 on March 11, 2009, with a broad mandate to advise the president on issues relating to the welfare of women and girls in order to ensure gender equality. [1] It also ensured that other White House agencies acted in a manner to allow all things to be possible for all people. [2] The Council was chaired by Valerie Jarrett [3] and included the heads of every federal agency and major White House office.

Contents

The Council was not convened during the Trump administration and was disbanded in 2017. A successor body, the White House Gender Policy Council, was formed under the Biden administration on January 20, 2021.

Formation

Obama speaks with Jarrett in a West Wing corridor. Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett in the West Wing corridor cropped.jpg
Obama speaks with Jarrett in a West Wing corridor.

President Barack Obama created the council in March 2009, effectively recreating the White House Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach (1995–2001). This earlier office had acted as a liaison with women's groups, but had been disliked by conservatives. [4]

In his Executive Order 13506, signed on March 11, 2009, Obama stated:

The purpose of this order is to establish a coordinated Federal response to issues that particularly impact the lives of women and girls and to ensure that Federal programs and policies address and take into account the distinctive concerns of women and girls, including women of color and those with disabilities. [1]

The executive order lists progress in eliminating barriers to success for women, [1] including record attendance of women at colleges and graduate schools, [1] record numbers of female corporate executives and business owners, [1] and a record number of women in all areas of government. [1]

The executive order then lists areas where inequalities remained. [1] It stated that the average American woman earns "78 cents for every dollar men make" and that women are not significantly represented in careers involving hard sciences. [1] The executive order additionally stated that "too many women lack health insurance [... and that] violence against women and girls remains a global epidemic". [1] It noted the challenges in guaranteeing equal opportunities in education for girls and women, and that and women had disproportionately suffered from the 2007 financial crisis. [1]

The executive order also stated that the issues that affect women are not solely the concerns of women: [1]

When jobs do not offer family leave, that affects men who wish to help care for their families. When women earn less than men for the same work, that affects families who have to work harder to make ends meet. When our daughters do not have the same educational and career opportunities as our sons, that affects entire communities, our economy, and our future as a Nation. [1]

The Department of Commerce provided funding and administrative support for the Council. [1]

Mission

The Council on Women and Girls was intended to work with federal executive departments and agencies "to provide a coordinated Federal response to issues that have an impact on the lives of women and girls", [1] [3] [5] [6] including providing assistance to women-owned businesses and to help women enter professions in science, engineering and technology. [1]

The Council was to advise the president on the effects of pending legislation and policy proposals, and to suggest changes and help develop new legislation and proposals to address issues for women and girls. [1]

Developments

The White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault was a development of both the White House Council on Women and Girls and the Office of the Vice President of the United States. [3] [5] The Task Force was established to protect American college and university students from sexual assault, to ensure that American colleges and universities are in compliance with federal regulations regarding sexual assault on campuses, and to help provide a safer environment for students on college and university campuses in the United States. [3] [5]

The Council was instrumental in providing a provision in the Affordable Care Act for women's contraception without co-pay [4] and for general preventative healthcare and breastfeeding services, as well as with policies on education, equal pay, working families, and violence against women. It also focused on issues for women with disabilities, trans women, women of color and women of low-income communities. [7] [8]

On October 4–5, 2010, the Council and Fortune magazine hosted the Most Powerful Women Summit for female entrepreneurs. [9]

On April 22, 2013, the Council and the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University hosted a White House conference on girls' leadership and civic education. [10] [11]

On June 14, 2016, the White House Council on Women and Girls hosted the first United State of Women Summit. This conference brought attention to the successes the Obama Administration had made in promoting gender equality, as well as the issues and obstacles that women continued to face domestically and internationally. [12] [13] Guests at the summit included President Obama, Vice President Biden, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. [14] [15]

Dissolution

After being disused for the first several months of the Trump administration, [4] the Council was disbanded in mid-2017. Trump called the council's efforts "redundant". [16]

Personnel

Members

The following list reflects council leaders, members, and attendees as of May 2014.

Council on Women and Girls
Chair Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to the president and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public engagement
Directors
Regular
attendees

The executive order allowed for a member of the Council to designate a senior-level official who is a part of the member's department, agency, or office, and who is a full-time officer or employee of the federal government, to perform the Council functions of the member. [1]

Support staff

The following individuals served in the role of support staff to the Council:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Title IX</span> United States federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally-funded education programs

Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. This is Public Law No. 92‑318, 86 Stat. 235, codified at 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681–1688.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Council on Environmental Quality</span> U.S. presidential advisory committee on environmental policy

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is a division of the Executive Office of the President that coordinates federal environmental efforts in the United States and works closely with agencies and other White House offices on the development of environmental and energy policies and initiatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs</span> Subagency within the US Government

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is a Division within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which in turn, is within the Executive Office of the President. OIRA oversees the implementation of government-wide policies in, and reviews draft regulations under, Executive Order 12866, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the Information Quality Act.


The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) is an advisory committee to the President of the United States on cultural issues. It works directly with the White House and the three primary cultural agencies: the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), as well as other federal partners and the private sector, to advance wide-ranging policy objectives in the arts and humanities. These include considerations for how the arts and humanities sectors can positively impact community well-being, economic development, public health, education, civic engagement, and climate change across the United States. 

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of Legal Counsel</span> Office of the United States Department of Justice

The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General and provides its own written opinions and other advice in response to requests from the Counsel to the President, the various agencies of the Executive Branch, and other components of the Department of Justice. The Office reviews and comments on the constitutionality of pending legislation. The office reviews any executive orders and substantive proclamations for legality if the President proposes them. All proposed orders of the Attorney General and regulations that require the Attorney General’s approval are reviewed. It also performs a variety of special assignments referred by the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in the United States</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in the United States rank among the highest in the world, with public opinion and jurisprudence changing significantly since the late 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Jarrett</span> American businesswoman and a former government official

Valerie June Jarrett is an American businesswoman and former government official serving as the chief executive officer of the Obama Foundation since 2021. She previously served as the senior advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama and assistant to the president for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs from 2009 to 2017. Before that, she served as a co-chair of the Obama–Biden Transition Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tina Tchen</span> American lawyer

Christina M. "Tina" Tchen is an American lawyer and a former official in the President Barack Obama Administration. She was CEO of Time's Up from 2019 to 2021, when she resigned following allegations that she provided legal aid to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo when sexual harassment allegations were made public. Her work centers on issues related to gender inequity, sexual harassment, and lack of diversity in the workplace.

The White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault was formed on January 22, 2014, after President Barack Obama directed the Office of the Vice President of the United States and the White House Council on Women and Girls to "strengthen and address compliance issues and provide institutions with additional tools to respond to and address rape and sexual assault". The Task Force is part of a wider federal move to bring awareness to sexual violence on American campuses, which also included the Office for Civil Rights release of a list of American higher education institutions with open Title IX sexual violence investigations and the It's On Us public awareness campaign. The co-chairs of the Task Force are Vice President Joe Biden and Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett.

Executive Order 13672, signed by U.S. President Barack Obama on July 21, 2014, amended two earlier executive orders to extend protection against discrimination in hiring and employment to additional classes. It prohibited discrimination in the civilian federal workforce on the basis of gender identity and in hiring by federal contractors on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT conservatism in the United States</span> Movement with conservatism

LGBTQ+ conservatism in the United States is a social and political ideology within the LGBTQ+ community that largely aligns with the American conservative movement. LGBTQ+ conservatism is generally more moderate on social issues than social conservatism, instead emphasizing values associated with fiscal conservatism, libertarian conservatism, and neoconservatism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United State of Women Summit</span> Summit in the United States

The United State of Women Summit was a summit held in Washington, D.C. focused on gender equality in the United States. The summit was hosted by the White House, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Aspen Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations</span>

Donald Trump, the president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, has been accused of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment, including non-consensual kissing or groping, by at least 25 women since the 1970s. The accusations have resulted in three instances of litigation: his then-wife Ivana made a rape claim during their 1990 divorce litigation but later recanted that claim; businesswoman Jill Harth sued Trump in 1997 alleging breach of contract while also suing for sexual harassment but agreed to forfeit her sexual harassment claim as part of a settlement she received relating to the former suit; and, in 2017, former The Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos filed a defamation lawsuit after Trump accused her of lying about her sexual misconduct allegations against him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency of Donald Trump</span> U.S. presidential administration from 2017 to 2021

Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, in which he lost the popular vote to Clinton by nearly three million votes. Upon his inauguration, he became the first president in American history without prior public office or military background. Trump made an unprecedented number of false or misleading statements during his campaign and presidency. His presidency ended with defeat in the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden after one term in office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency</span>

The first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency began on January 20, 2017, the day Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. The first 100 days of a presidential term took on symbolic significance during Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term in office, and the period is considered a benchmark to measure the early success of a president. The 100th day of his presidency ended at noon on April 30, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration</span> Environmental policy as enforced by the Donald Trump administration

The environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration represented a shift from the policy priorities and goals of the preceding Barack Obama administration. Where President Obama's environmental agenda prioritized the reduction of carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy with the goal of conserving the environment for future generations, the Trump administration policy was for the US to attain energy independence based on fossil fuel use and to rescind many environmental regulations. By the end of Trump's term, his administration had rolled back 98 environmental rules and regulations, leaving an additional 14 rollbacks still in progress. As of early 2021, the Biden administration was making a public accounting of regulatory decisions under the Trump administration that had been influenced by politics rather than science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social policy of Donald Trump</span>

The social policy of the Donald Trump administration was characterized as socially conservative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cristin Dorgelo</span> American science policy person

Cristin Ann Dorgelo is the senior advisor for management at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Dorgelo is the president emeritus of the Association of Science and Technology Centers, where she previously served as president and CEO. Dorgelo served as the chief of staff at the Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Barack Obama White House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social policy of the Joe Biden administration</span> Overview of the social policy of the Biden administration (2021-present)

The social policy of the Joe Biden administration is intended to improve racial equity, increase access to safe and legal abortions, tighten restrictions on gun sales, among other aims. A number of policies aim to reverse the former policies of President Donald Trump, including the "Muslim" travel ban and loosened anti-discriminatory policies relating to LGBT people.

A presidential task force or White House task force is a board of advisors appointed by the president of the United States whose main purpose is to enact policies in relation to responding to either national emergencies, crises, or general policy initiatives. Presidential task force members are part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States who don't require United States Senate confirmation and can be dismissed at the discretion of the president. This is granted by the Constitution of the United States under Article Two, Section Two, Clause One, stating, "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices."

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Executive Order 13506, Washington, DC: President Barack Obama, The White House, 11 March 2009, Obama, B., Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "The White House Council on Women and Girls". whitehouse.gov . 2015-12-04. Archived from the original on 2019-06-20. Retrieved 2019-06-20– via National Archives.
  3. 1 2 3 4 A renewed call to action to end rape and sexual assault Archived 2017-01-22 at the Wayback Machine , The White House Blog, Washington, DC: Valerie Jarrett, 22 January 2014, Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Palmeri, Tara (30 June 2017). "White House council for women and girls goes dark under Trump". Politico . Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 Memorandum establishing White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault Archived 2017-01-22 at the Wayback Machine , The White House: President Barack Obama, Washington, DC: Office of the Press Secretary, 22 January 2014, Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  6. ↑ Obama admin: Freedom from sexual assault a basic human right Archived 2014-01-25 at the Wayback Machine , MSNBC.com, New York, NY: NBC Universal, 22 January 2014, Richinick, M., Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Storey, Kate (2 March 2017). "What Will Donald Trump Do With the White House Council on Women and Girls?". Cosmopolitan. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  8. ↑ Evans, Kelley D. (21 December 2016). "White House Council on Women and Girls continues to make advancements". Andscape . Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  9. ↑ "Remarks by the President at the 2010 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit". whitehouse.gov . 5 October 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2019– via National Archives.
  10. ↑ Keneally, Meghan (30 June 2017). "White House considers eliminating council focused on female empowerment". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  11. ↑ "A National Call to Action: Teaching Young People about Women's Public Leadership and Promoting Public Leadership in Girls" (PDF). Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  12. ↑ "FACT SHEET: New Steps to Advance Equal Pay on the Seventh Anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act". whitehouse.gov . January 29, 2016. Archived from the original on January 21, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2016– via National Archives.
  13. ↑ Mettler, Katie (June 7, 2016). "First lady Michelle Obama teams up with Oprah to host 'United State of Women' summit at White House". Washington Post . Archived from the original on June 15, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  14. ↑ Rhodan, Maya (June 14, 2016). "President Obama at Women's Summit: This Is What a Feminist Looks Like". Time . Archived from the original on June 14, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  15. ↑ Miller, Ryan (June 14, 2016). "Message from women's summit: More needs to be done". USA TODAY . Archived from the original on June 15, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Listening tour informs state Council on Women and Girls". Times Union. 2017-12-29. Archived from the original on 2018-07-11. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.