Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 41 / Thursday, March 4, 2021 / Presidential Documents 12523 

Proclamation 10153 of March 1, 2021 

Women’s History Month, 2021 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

Each year, Women’s History Month offers an important opportunity for 

us to shine a light on the extraordinary legacy of trailblazing American 

women and girls who have built, shaped, and improved upon our Nation. 

Throughout American history, women and girls have made vital contributions, often in the face of discrimination and undue hardship. Courageous 

women marched for and won the right to vote, campaigned against injustice, 

shattered countless barriers, and expanded the possibilities of American 

life. Our history is also replete with examples of the unfailing bravery 

and grit of women in America, particularly in times of crisis and emergency. 

Women served our Nation during World War II, led organizing and litigation 

efforts during the Civil Rights movement, and represented the United States 

on the global stage in the fight for human rights, peace, and security. 

Far too often, their heroic efforts and their stories have gone untold— 

especially the millions of Black women, immigrant women, and others from 

diverse communities who have strengthened America across every generation. 

In our current moment of crisis, women continue to lead. From vaccine 

researchers to public health officials to the countless heroines on the 

frontlines, women are working around the clock to defeat COVID–19. Women, 

and particularly women of color, also make up the majority of America’s 

essential workers, including educators and child care providers, grocery 

store workers, farmworkers, and others who are keeping our families, our 

communities, and our country afloat. This year has also marked an historic 

milestone of women’s leadership 232 years in the making, with the inauguration of America’s first woman Vice President. 

As we celebrate the contributions and progress of women and girls, we 

must also reflect on the extraordinary and unequal burdens they continue 

to bear today. The COVID–19 pandemic has exacerbated barriers that have 

held back women—particularly women of color—for generations. Gender 

and racial disparities in pay continue to fester. A disproportionate share 

of caregiving continues to fall on the shoulders of women and girls. And 

now, job losses due to COVID–19 have set women’s labor force participation 

back to its lowest point in more than 30 years—threatening the security 

and well-being of women and their families and imperiling the economic 

progress of our entire Nation. The share of mothers who have left the 

labor force is three times that of fathers; in September 2020 alone, an 

astonishing 865,000 women dropped out of the American workforce. These 

trends are even more dire among women of color, with Black and Hispanic 

women facing disproportionately high rates of unemployment. At the same 

time, food insecurity has risen dramatically since the pandemic began, particularly in female-headed households with children, as have reports of 

intimate partner violence. 

Since taking office on January 20th, Vice President Kamala Harris and I 

have made COVID–19 vaccination, relief, and broad-based economic recovery 

efforts a top priority. Our goal is not to return our economy to where 

it was before the pandemic struck. Our goal is to build back better—and 


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12524 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 41 / Thursday, March 4, 2021 / Presidential Documents 

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 


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