Making equality mainstream

The Biden-Harris administration released its National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality, which is designed to “address longstanding gender discrimination and the systemic barriers to full participation that have held back women and girls.” The strategy requires every federal agency to “establish and prioritize” goals toward this end, as well as a plan to execute them.

We are grateful to see public authorities finally taking necessary actions to put gender equality on the national agenda. We’ll be watching closely as agencies roll out their goals and implementation plans over the next several months. Here’s what we hope to see:

• comprehensive disclosure of workforce demographics and pay by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission;
• required paid leave;
• comprehensive disclosure of human resources policies and performance, including pay equity, by the SEC;
• national goals and accountability for diversity on boards of directors; and
• a Department of Labor Women’s Bureau review of all laws, policies and federal directives as they affect women of racial and ethnic minority groups and recommendations for how to remove barriers and advance these women.

Of course, these steps won’t solve the longstanding problem of inequality all at once, but they could be important milestones, and we are thankful to see our public sector make this meaningful step in the right direction.