Political and Legislative
Biden Marked International Women’s Day With Orders on Gender Equality and Sexual Violence
KEY FACTS
- Biden will reportedly order the Department of Education to review Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs and activities.
- The order will focus on changes imposed during the Trump administration under former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which strengthened protections for students who are accused of sexual misconduct and narrowed the definition of “sexual harassment” to conduct “so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive” it “denies a person equal access to the school’s education program or activity.”
- Biden’s Gender Policy Council will reportedly push gender equality in both domestic and foreign policy and will require cabinet secretaries to participate.
- The council will signal “a plan to take a government-wide approach to gender equity and equality,” council co-chair Jennifer Klein told the New York Times in February, intertwining issues like sexual harassment and reproductive rights with other governmental priorities like climate change and infrastructure.
