Trump administration neglect shows why we need permanent White House women's adviser

When I served as the U.S. ambassador for Global Women’s Issues during the Obama administration, foreigners often asked me why the United States does not have a Cabinet agency or ministry for women. It struck many of the diplomats I met as odd, because dozens of other countries — including leading democracies like Canada, France and the United Kingdom — have a Cabinet-level government official responsible for directing policies for women and girls.

I used to explain that in America, we integrate these issues throughout government agencies; the Food and Drug Administration and Departments of Labor, State, Justice, and Health and Human services all have offices focused on women. President Barack Obama took it one step further by setting up, through executive order, a Council on Women and Girls in the White House, which coordinated the efforts of all these entities. But the question stuck with me: Why don’t we have a department for women’s issues?

Since then, the Trump administration has disbanded that White House council. At the State Department, the Office of Global Women’s Issues that I led has been without any Senate-confirmed leadership for two years. The United States has abdicated its leadership in promoting women’s political and economic participation on the global stage, and all the while has largely ignored these problems in our own country. In short, what was a coordination issue in the Obama administration has now become a full-blown crisis.

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This retrenchment underscores a longstanding problem in our government structure: There is no built-in guarantee that women’s issues don’t get shoved aside. The United States should be tackling these issues in an aggressive and comprehensive way. But the unconnected offices, programs and bureaus across the federal government are being largely ignored or even undercut by this administration.

Congress can act now to fix it. The legislative branch, newly empowered with a record number of women, should establish a federal department for women and families that would direct and coordinate the various government offices focused on women’s issues. The agency would be a part of the Executive Office of the President, similar to the director of national intelligence or the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.   

Trump administration doesn't lead on women 

The United States used to preach the gospel that women are critical to a nation’s success because we knew it to be true in our own country. When women joined the workforce, our economy grew. When they lobbied for things like electricity in rural areas, or better education, lives improved. When issues like domestic violence were taken seriously, communities were made safer.

This is the story I told in my time as ambassador, but I also acknowledged how far we still have to go. According to the World Economic Forum, America ranks behind 50 other countries in closing the gaps between men and women. While more women than men earn undergraduate and graduate degrees, women are not close to men in leadership positions in most sectors. Women’s overall labor force participation trails men’s, and their average salaries continue to lag behind their male colleagues.

While women have greater life expectancy than men, the United States has the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world, with African-American women more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related complications. 

Today, the simple truth is that these issues rarely rise to the top of the priority list for any given Cabinet secretary. This is not an abstract problem. It has a direct effect on the daily lives of millions of women and children. This administration have the fewest number of women in the Cabinet than any administration since Ronald Reagan. And other than Ivanka Trump, who is not accountable to Congress, it has virtually no leadership on women’s issues in the U.S. or abroad.

Nor is this proposal radical: For too long, a policymaking process that does not consciously consider half of the world’s population has been the norm. We should understand the default status quo as deficient and a new women’s adviser as a long overdue corrective.

Top post would improve results for women

A Cabinet-level agency would keep future administrations from ignoring issues regarding women and children, and offer a way for Congress to hold the executive branch accountable for doing right by women and children. The adviser for women and families would have a seat at the table for discussions on how to expand our economy, think about paid leave and equal pay, address health care, consider the implications of the #MeToo movement, and understand the impact of immigration policies, including detention of women and children.

Critics will no doubt object to additional government bureaucracy. But the result would be to improve, not expand, the federal government’s work in these areas. Consolidating the federal offices and functions that affect the lives of women and children will streamline efforts, increase efficiency and efficacy, and lead to greater accountability. That’s what President George W. Bush did after 9/11, when he determined that the structure of the federal government was inadequate to address the threats to our country. He established the Department of Homeland Security to transform the “patchwork of government activities into a single department.” 

Government reorganization is never easy. But this administration has shown what happens when women and children are allowed to slide to the bottom of the priority list. Our federal government must be truly representative. Women deserve no less.

Cathy Russell, an Institute of Politics fellow at Harvard, was the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women's issues during the Obama administration.