Women Need More than a Month of Honor

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived in Washington, D.C. — the White House is still an exciting sight to behold. Yet most Washingtonians and visitors to our nation’s capital never actually step inside this historic building.

Last Thursday, 20 AAUW staff members had just this opportunity. Invited in celebration of Women’s History Month, we lined up along with many of our colleagues at other women’s and equity organizations on an uncharacteristically blustery spring day. We passed through the (several!) layers of security into the portico, past a bronze statue of Susan B. Anthony. We picked up a copy of the president’s proclamation recognizing the occasion and began to meander through the open rooms of the White House.

Less of a guided tour and more of a free-form, individualized exploration, the AAUW staff made the most of the invitation and immersed ourselves in the history, the art, and the simple elegance that surrounded us. Finally, we exited through the front door of the building where, serenaded by a local school choir, we experienced the rare view of looking out from the front gates of the White House.

It’s a worthwhile and powerful thing to visit the very center of American national authority. Yet we advocates for gender equity recognize that visits such as these, while gratifying, are not the concrete steps women and girls need. We appreciate an administration that acknowledges the history and ongoing contributions that American women have made. However, it’s stronger pay equity legislation, it’s paid sick leave, it’s adequately funded public schools — it’s tangible changes in policy and that will deliver real equality for American women.