Women's Rights Stakeholders Commend Formation Of New White House Council

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 13 Mar 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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Many women's advocates praised President Obama's announcement on Wednesday of a new White House Council on Women and Girls, the AP/Google.com reports. California first lady Maria Shriver, who is working on a report on women's issues with the Center for American Progress, said the formation of the council was a reminder that "we are now what I like to call 'a woman's nation" (AP/Google.com, 3/11). Ann O'Leary, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and director of the Berkeley Center on Health, Economic and Family Security, said the decision to create the council "comes at a critical time." She said, "We look forward to working with the president and his advisers on this effort" (Gerstein, Politico, 3/12).

According to the Boston Globe, the "across-the-government" council aims to help Cabinet agencies and departments work together to ensure that women are provided with opportunities equal to men. Obama said at the signing ceremony that he thinks the U.S. "need[s] to take a hard look at where we're falling short, and who we're leaving out, and what that means for the prosperity and the vitality of our nation" (Boston Globe, 3/12). Invoking the achievements of women who came before him, Obama said that "now it's up to us to carry that work forward, to ensure that our daughters and granddaughters have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievements -- and that they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers never dreamed of." He added, "That's the purpose of this council; those are the priorities of my presidency" (AP/Google.com, 3/11).

According to the Politico some advocates were "pushing for a Cabinet-level office, or even a blue-ribbon Presidential Commission on Women" rather than the council. Martha Burk, a former chair of the National Council for Women's Organizations, said the council "falls far short of what's needed." Burk also said that the two women selected to head the council -- Valerie Jarrett and Tina Tchen, both top advisers within the Obama administration -- "are excellent folks" but that "both are going to find this is one of many things they're responsible for, and I think they'll be stretched to give it proper attention."

However, many other women's rights advocates who attended the White House signing on Wednesday said they were pleased that their issues are receiving attention from the administration. Kim Gandy of the National Organization for Women said, "We have a commitment from the administration that they are determined to make this work and that, if it doesn't work in the way they and we hope, they'll take another look at it." She added, "It has not been given short shrift in any way ... I'm satisfied with that."

An administration official, who requested anonymity, said that officials considered the idea of creating a presidential commission and several other options, "but ultimately they decided to go with the council that was announced." According to Politico, some women's rights groups have begun to create strategies aimed at elevating women's issues through means other than the council. WomenCount -- a group comprised largely of people who supported Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for president during the Democratic primary -- is looking to establish a presidential commission through legislation passed by Congress. The group also has started an Internet petition campaign to urge Obama to create a women's commission within the first 100 days of his administration. Stacy Mason, the group's executive director, said that she is "thrilled" by the newly created council but that WomenCount is "moving forward with our campaign calling for a presidential commission on women as well." She added, "We really need to do both" (Politico, 3/12).

Women's Council Shows Obama Is 'Committed' to Women's Rights, Opinion Piece Says

The creation of the White House Council on Women and Girls is a "reminder ... of just how female-friendly our new president is," Jenice Armstrong writes in a Philadelphia Daily News opinion piece. "It's one thing to be surrounded by females at home the way [Obama] is, but it's a whole other think to be as committed as he is to improving the life of American women," Armstrong writes. She notes that former President Bill Clinton formed a similar panel in 1995, continuing, "It was just a small office, but it served as a liaison between the White House and women's groups" on issues like abortion rights, domestic violence, the participation of women in clinical trials and equal pay. The office was "quietly dismantled" in 2001 by former President George W. Bush, Armstrong writes. "I wish I could quiet the cynic in me that suspects this new council may wind up being more symbolic than anything else," she continues, concluding, "But after the eight-year drought we've been through, it's at least a step in the right direction. For that alone, Obama deserves mad props" (Armstrong, Philadelphia Daily News, 3/12).

Broadcast Coverage

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Thursday included a discussion with Jarrett about the council and its priorities (Wertheimer, "Morning Edition," NPR, 3/12).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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