Establishment of the White House Gender Policy Council
The order establishes a White House Gender Policy Council within the Executive Office of the President, tasking it with coordinating a government-wide strategy to advance gender equity and equality across domestic and foreign policy.
Creates a senior advisory body spanning nearly every cabinet department and major White House office, with a mandate covering economic security, health care, gender-based violence, and global diplomacy — and requires a public annual progress report to the President.
What this order does
What it orders
The order establishes the White House Gender Policy Council within the Executive Office of the President and directs it to coordinate federal efforts on gender equity and equality across a wide range of policy areas, including economic opportunity, caregiving, health care, education, gender-based violence, and international diplomacy. The Council is directed to develop a government-wide Strategy within 200 days, create a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, review and update the 2016 U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, and submit annual public progress reports to the President. Agency heads must designate a senior liaison to the Council within 30 days.
The order does not itself change any federal regulation or program; actual policy changes depend on the Strategy, subsequent agency reviews, and future rulemaking. It also terminates a working group created under a 2019 presidential memorandum and amends that memorandum to substitute the Council in its place. A standard severability clause reserves existing agency authorities and specifies the order creates no judicially enforceable rights.
Who it affects
Senior officials across nearly all cabinet departments and major White House offices who must designate liaison staff and participate in Council coordination. Nonprofit organizations, civil society groups, state and local governments, labor unions, and private-sector actors may be engaged through outreach. Women and girls broadly, and members of underserved communities, are the intended beneficiaries of future policy changes the Council will recommend.
Why it matters
The Council centralizes gender-equity coordination at the White House level and commits agencies to reviewing their programs for consistency with a forthcoming strategy. Concrete policy changes — such as revisions to regulations, agency guidance, and international development priorities — will flow from the Strategy the Council produces, making this order the starting point for a broad policy agenda.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The Council is led by two presidentially designated Co-Chairs and draws on senior officials from more than 35 departments and offices. Each member agency designates a senior liaison within 30 days. The Council then develops a Strategy within 200 days, after which agency heads select programs for consistency review and revise or rescind conflicting rules as appropriate. Agency heads report to the Council semi-annually; the Council produces an annual public report to the President. OMB is directed to identify gender-equity opportunities in the President's budget submissions. The order explicitly notes it creates no enforceable individual rights.
Actions and deadlines
- Each Council member agency designates a senior official to coordinate with the Council and oversee gender equity efforts
- Council develops and submits a government-wide Strategy for advancing gender equity and equality to the President
- Agency heads select programs and policies for review for consistency with the Strategy
- Create a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence establishing a government-wide approach
- Review and update the 2016 U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally
- USAID reviews and revises or rescinds the 2020 Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Policy as appropriate
- Agency heads report to the Council on progress implementing the Strategy
- Council prepares an annual public progress report for submission to the President
- OMB Director identifies opportunities to promote gender equity and equality in the President's budget