Recognizing and Honoring Women's History
This Executive Order, signed in March 2024, directs the federal government to strengthen how America recognizes and tells the story of women and girls in U.S. history. It tasks the Interior Department with conducting a broad set of studies and reporting requirements aimed at better identifying, interpreting, and highlighting sites of national importance that relate to women's history. It also directs coordination with the White House gender and policy councils and includes a pathway for sharing findings with the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum to inform exhibits. The order builds on prior equity and inclusion efforts and does not by itself create new legal rights or obligations. In short, the order requires a formal assessment of current sites, a comprehensive plan (through theme studies) to center women’s history across periods and fields, and ongoing recommendations to improve recognition across federal parks, lands, and programs—along with a mechanism to integrate findings into public museum displays.
Key Points
- 1180-day requirement: The Secretary of the Interior must submit a report to the President assessing existing sites of national importance related to women’s history and identifying opportunities within those sites to highlight women’s history.
- 2Theme studies plan: The Interior Secretary must conduct an overview theme study on women’s history identifying major topics and a plan for additional, subsequent theme studies to cover key periods and topics in U.S. history.
- 3Inclusive review: The Secretary must review completed theme studies to ensure representation of women from diverse backgrounds (e.g., Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, African American, Indigenous, LGBTQ+ communities) and adopt an intersectional approach that reflects race, ethnicity, gender identity, disability, geography, income, and more.
- 4Advisory Board recommendations: The Interior Secretary will seek recommendations from the National Park System Advisory Board on improving recognition of women’s history across federal parks, lands, and programs; interim recommendations due within 270 days and final recommendations within 1 year of the order.
- 5Smithsonian cooperation: Findings from the studies should be shared with the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum and its council to help inform their exhibits.