The White House continues to move forward with its plan to support gender equality in America and abroad. It is an ambitious project with a lot of moving pieces that need to fall into place. As the first of its kind, the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality will have a lot of people watching for its success.
A Worldwide Issue
Gender equality has made positive strides in recent years, but is still well behind what people expected. Support has been strong at the local level while actual government oversight has been hit or miss. Many of the new laws discussed on lawalways over the years shows the low priority the U.S. has with gender equality. Although some political officials have had success running with gender equality as a platform, it never quite materializes compared to the other major issues.
The pandemic has forced more workers than ever to commute virtually. It has resulted in more work from home opportunities for women, and a more balanced wage gap. There is still a lot more room before the pay is equal, and there are other industries where the wage gap widened. Economic security is important, so a gender strategy was created that takes these facts into account
Priorities
The strategy doesn’t shy away from the core problems of a society with gender equality issues. There are ten interconnected priorities, which pointing out a problem that needs to be solved. The most notable ones are human rights and equality, justice and immigration, democracy, participation and leadership.
Interconnected is the best way to describe the plan, since education will help with human rights, and human rights education will help with justice and immigration. That is only a small sample size of how well thought out the strategy is on paper.
It’s important to point out that the strategy also includes discrimination rules for sexual orientation, religion, race and other factors. These are the groups that face similar barriers or challenges that makes their daily life difficult.
Being Responsible
Some people consider the gender equity and equality platform as a way to kick the can down the road. But in this instance, the government has made an actionable plan that they are taking full responsibility for. This is a history step for America that requires a full commitment beyond the Biden-Harris administration. As future presidents hold office, they can continue to build on the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality.
To bring the point home, the announcement of this plan was done on International Women’s Day. The Gender Policy Council was created, and more importantly, attached to domestic and foreign policy. Gender rights is a worldwide issue, and the platform will always treat it that way.
A Major Plan
If this plan succeeds, it will set a roadmap that other countries can follow. There is already talk of collaborations that will further solidify the project’s legitimacy. The U.S. is committed, and will continue to move towards a positive resolution.