that means creating a strong and durable foundation for the economic opportunity and security of women in America. Our plans include proposals to provide individual payments and tax credits to put money in the hands of families in need; increase housing and food assistance as well as unemployment insurance; lower health costs and expand access to coverage; increase support for and access to child care; and expand existing paid leave policies. We are also committed to making further progress on what, for me, has been a lifelong cause: reducing gender-based violence, and advancing the safety, economic stability, and well-being of survivors.
Sixty years ago, when former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt confronted President John F. Kennedy about the lack of women in Government, he appointed her as head of a new commission to address the status of women in America and take on discrimination in all of its forms. We have made significant progress in the United States, thanks to the persistence and tireless work of countless women. I am proud that the White House Gender Policy Council will build on those efforts by putting a laser focus on the needs and contributions of women and girls, and ensuring a Government-wide focus on gender equity. Our Administration is also committed to ensuring that women are well-represented at all levels in the executive branch: already, we have selected a record number of women who represent the diversity of America to serve in Cabinet-level positions.
During Women’s History Month, let us honor the accomplished and visionary women who have helped build our country, including those whose contributions have not been adequately recognized and celebrated. And let us pay tribute to the trailblazers from the recent and distant past for daring to envision a future for which no past precedent existed, and for building a Nation of endless possibilities for all of its women and girls.
Now, therefore, I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2021 as Women’s History Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month and to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, 2021, with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. I also invite all Americans to visit www.WomensHistoryMonth.gov to learn more about the vital contribution of women to our Nation’s history.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.
[FR Doc. 2021–04645
Filed 3–3–21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295–F1–P
