Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 9, 2011 / Presidential Documents 12823 

Memorandum of March 4, 2011 

Enhanced Collection of Relevant Data and Statistics Relating 

to Women 

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies 

I am proud to work with the White House Council on Women and Girls, 

the Office of Management and Budget, and the Department of Commerce 

on this week’s release of Women in America, a report detailing the status 

of American women in the areas of families and income, health, employment, 

education, and violence and crime. This report provides a snapshot of the 

status of American women today, serving as a valuable resource for Government officials, academics, members of non-profit, nongovernmental, and 

news organizations, and others. 

My Administration is committed to ensuring that Federal programs achieve 

policy goals in the most cost-effective manner. The Women in America 

report, together with the accompanying website collection of relevant data, 

will assist Government officials in crafting policies in light of available 

statistical evidence. It will also assist the work of the nongovernmental 

sector, including journalists, public policy analysts, and academic researchers, by providing data that allow greater understanding of policies and 

programs. 

Preparation of this report revealed the vast data resources of the Federal 

statistical agencies. It also revealed some gaps in data collection. Gathering 

and analyzing additional data to fill in the gaps could help policymakers 

gather a more accurate and comprehensive view of the status and needs 

of American women. 

Accordingly, I hereby request the heads of executive departments and agencies, where possible within existing collections of data and in light of 

budgetary constraints, to identify and to seek to fill in gaps in statistics 

and improve survey methodology relating to women wherever appropriate, 

including in the broad areas covered by the Women in America report: 

families and income, health, employment, education, and violence and crime. 

Examples of some of the efforts that could be undertaken by departments 

and agencies with respect to the gathering or design of comprehensive 

data related to women include the following: 

(a) Maternal Mortality. I encourage the National Center for Health Statistics 

(NCHS) to continue to work with States and other registration areas to 

complete the expeditious adoption of the most current standards for the 

collection of information on vital events, as well as the transition to electronic 

reporting systems. Maternal mortality is an important indicator of women’s 

health both internationally and nationally. In the United States, maternal 

mortality statistics are based upon the information recorded on death certificates and collected by State and local vital records offices. The NCHS 

compiles the data across the 50 States and other registration areas. Due 

to concerns about data quality in the ascertainment of maternal mortality 

statistics, the 2003 revision of the standard death certificate introduced 

improved standards for collecting data. Until all 50 States and registration 

areas adopt the new data standards, formulating a national-level maternal 

mortality ratio remains difficult. 


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12824 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 9, 2011 / Presidential Documents 

(b) Women in Leadership in Corporate America. Women participate in every 

sector of the workforce. Their current role in corporate leadership is an 

important indicator of their progress. I encourage the Chair of the Securities 

and Exchange Commission to seek to supplement the information it already 

collects by seeking to collect, among other data, information on the presence 

of women in governance positions in corporations, in order to shed further 

light on the role of women in corporate America. 

(c) Women in Leadership in Public Service. I encourage the Corporation 

for National and Community Service to include statistics about the role 

of women in diverse aspects of public service within its planned work 

on measuring civic engagement. 

This memorandum shall be carried out to the extent permitted by law, 

consistent with the legal authorities of executive departments and agencies 

and subject to the availability of appropriations. Nothing in this memorandum 

shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect the authority granted by 

law to a department or agency, or the head thereof; or the functions of 

the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 

administrative, or legislative proposals. 

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or 

benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any 

party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its 

officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. 

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget is hereby authorized 

and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

Washington, March 4, 2011 

[FR Doc. 2011–5568 

Filed 3–8–11; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3110–01–P 


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