White House Council for Women and Girls Disbanded

The White House is up to no good again, ending the Council on Women and Girls which was active under Presidents Clinton and Obama. 

Trump appears to be quietly disbanding an office President Obama created that focuses on gender equality.  Obama created the White House Council on Women and Girls... to monitor the impact of policy changes with women’s groups and maintain open lines of communication.

The council has not been functioning while the Trump administration evaluates whether to keep it....

President Obama re-started the council soon after taking office.  It existed under President Clinton but was ended by George W. Bush. Now Trump appears to be doing the same.  

Obama signed the order to create the council in March 2009, three months into his first term, recreating the earlier Clinton-era office, which helped... maintain open lines of communication with women's groups but was much-hated by conservative groups. 

Reaction, as usual, has been swift and damning.

“I see no evidence, zero, that Donald Trump has anyone in his orbit to advocate for women and girls,” National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill told Politico. “We need a real office that would really advocate.”

Tina Tchen, who was director of Obama’s White House Council on Women and Girls, said the office served as a signal to career staff that they needed to consider equality gaps.  “It shows the priority you place on the issues surrounding women and girls,” said Tchen, who also served as an assistant to Obama and as first lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff.

 

Sources: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/340205-trump-considers-shutting-down-white-house-council-on-women-and

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/30/donald-trump-white-house-council-for-women-and-girls-239979

Date: 
Monday, July 24, 2017