Palm Beach County NOW

Yesterday, the Biden-Harris Administration released a fact sheet demonstrating how President Biden and Vice President Harris have leveraged the full force of the federal government to advance rights and opportunity for women and girls across the country and around the globe. From defending reproductive freedom, delivering the highest women’s labor force participation and the narrowest gender pay gap on record, making historic investments in the care economy, and lowering drug prices for women on Medicare to fighting to end violence against women, advancing the human rights of women and girls globally, and promoting women’s political participation and leadership, President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to investing in the future of women and girls.

At a time when women’s reproductive freedom is under attack, President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting to ensure that women across the country are able to make deeply personal health care decisions and access the reproductive health care they need. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the President has continued to call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe in federal law, and has made it clear that he will sign legislation as soon as it reaches his desk. President Biden has also signed three Executive Orders (1) (2) (3) and a Presidential Memorandum directing his Administration to protect access to reproductive health care, including abortion and contraception. He established the White House Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access to coordinate these efforts across agencies and mobilize the Administration to defend reproductive rights.

The President and Vice President believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and have expanded health care access for millions more Americans while also lowering health care costs. The President continues to build on, strengthen, and protect Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, and has signed laws such as the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act to lower prescription drug costs and health insurance premiums. The President and First Lady are also fundamentally changing how we approach and fund women’s health research to pioneer the next generation of discoveries in women’s health. And the Administration is improving maternal health care, including by extending postpartum Medicaid coverage.

The Administration is investing in America’s future by ensuring women have access to good jobs and safe workplaces free from discrimination. The President’s economic agenda has led to historic gains in women’s labor force participation and the narrowest gender pay gap on record. Globally, we are supporting women’s economic security by promoting women’s access to jobs in sectors critical to the future of our planet and closing the gender digital divide—a gap we commit to halve by 2030.

The Administration is taking action to increase access to affordable, high-quality care for families and to support caregivers and care workers. When we invest in care, we allow parents—especially women—to participate fully in the workforce; recognize the value of care workers and care providers, who are disproportionately women and women of color; and strengthen the economy. In 2021, the American Rescue Plan helped child care centers and family child care providers, which are mostly small businesses, remain open or reopen during the pandemic. In April 2024, the Administration secured an additional $1 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant and Head Start. President Biden also issued an historic Executive Order in April 2023, directing the most comprehensive set of executive actions any President has ever taken to expand access to affordable, high-quality care, and provide support for care workers and family caregivers.

Ending gender-based violence has been a cornerstone of President Biden’s career—including his championing of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994 as a U.S. Senator. The President and Vice President remain committed to preventing and ending all forms of gender-based violence wherever it occurs—at home, in school, at work, in the military, in public spaces, and online. The President has signed historic legislation that dramatically increases the nation’s investments in ending gender-based violence, expands the reach of services to underserved communities, and helps end gun violence in our country. The Administration has also taken meaningful executive action and adopted a whole-of government, intersectional approach to preventing and addressing sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other forms of gender-based violence that is guided by the first-ever U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.

As Vice President Harris has said, “the status of women is the status of democracy.” We know that the status of women and the stability of nations are inextricably linked and that wherever the rights of women and girls are under threat, so, too, are democracy, peace, and stability. The Administration is committed to defending women’s rights and elevating women’s civic and political participation and leadership at home and abroad—that’s why President Biden established the first-ever White House Gender Policy Council and why the Council developed the first-ever National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality to guide the Administration’s work.