As the U.S. Government Moves Forward, GenderAvenger Will Keep Asking the Important Question: Where Are the Women?
As the country mourns Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek, we celebrate his facts and fun approach when GenderAvenger asks the fundamental question: “Where are the women?”
This question is particularly important as the country moves on to new leadership and policy-making.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Who will the insiders be?
President Elect Biden has pledged a government that looks like America, and we look forward to counting the gender balance of his Cabinet, White House staff, and various task forces and special committees. The Biden-Harris team has announced a number of groups, including a coronavirus task force and a large transition committee, including team leaders assigned to review agencies. There are too many for us to count this early, but stay tuned for updates both here and on social media. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for our GenderAvenger newsletter so you don’t miss out.
Who will be advising newly elected members of Congress, governors, and mayors? It is encouraging that Arizona’s new Senator Mark Kelly announced a 13-member gender-balanced transition group with 46% women, of whom 50% are women of color. What’s happening where you live and vote?
Who will the outside influencers be?
Think tanks, opinion pages, issue organizations, and political advocates are all hoping their voices will be heard by the insiders. When we featured the first policy summit this week, we noticed that the Council on Foundations 2020 Public Policy Summit had a speakers gender split of 50% men and 50% women, 39% of whom are women of color, which shows that things are off to a good start with a Bronze GA Stamp of Approval.
But it’s not ALL good:
The upcoming 2020 Forbes Healthcare Virtual Summit, December 2-3, is currently at 25% women speakers, of whom 33% are women of color. Hopefully the balance will improve before the event.
American Enterprise Institute’s virtual event on November 17, “Upward Mobility and Cities After 2020”, incredibly features a manel.
The Employee Benefit Retirement Institute has a series of policy webinars the week of December 7 with only 25% women on tap as “compelling” speakers.
There are so many elected officials, appointees, government bodies, committees, panels and speaker lists, etc. to count as the country goes forward. The GenderAvenger mission is more important than ever now, because women’s voices count now more than ever.
Let’s keep counting to make sure that all women’s voices are heard.
Let’s keep counting to make sure that all women’s voices are heard: women experienced in government, women with new ideas about what government can do to improve all American’s lives, older and younger women, city and suburban and rural women, and women of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Women’s equal power and influence relies on women’s voices being heard, so we’ll be here helping to answer the “where are the women” question to let you know how both the inside and outside influencers are prioritizing a diversity of experiences and expertise.