In response to the official establishment today of the White House Gender Policy Council, senior experts at The Century Foundation (TCF), a leading progressive think tank, released the following statements:

Julie Kashen, TCF senior fellow and director of women’s economic justice:

“On International Women’s Day, I applaud the establishment of the White House Gender Policy Council by the Biden–Harris administration. The pandemic and its devastating impact on women has reminded us just how essential it is that women’s needs and gender equity remain at the forefront of policy conversations beyond one day per year. Child care, paid leave, and women’s employment are central to addressing the priorities of this administration, including rebuilding the economy, advancing racial justice, and recovering from the pandemic. Having policy muscle on these issues within the White House is welcome news. I look forward to working with them to advance solutions that women and families need.”

Dr. Jamila Taylor, TCF senior fellow and director of health care reform:

“The pandemic has made it impossible to ignore the fact that access to affordable, quality health care—including reproductive and maternal health care—and economic justice are deeply connected issues. For too long, ‘women’s issues’ have been nonsensically divided into separate buckets, leaving many women—particularly women of color—out of policy solutions. Women do not lead single-issue lives. The policy solutions we develop in order to meet their needs must be intersectional in focus. I commend the White House for establishing a cross-cutting Gender Policy Council that is tasked with bringing the capacity of the full government to bear on filling in the cracks between systems that many women fall through. ”

Read these experts’ top 2021 policy priorities on women’s economic justice and health care in TCF’s 2021 Agenda.