WASHINGTON–White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett is adding more to her portfolio: she is chairing a White House Council on Women and Girls, to be created by President Obama on Wednesday. Tina Tchen, director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, will serve as executive director of the group.
Obama will sign an executive order creating the council–run by two high level Chicagoans in the White House–designed to “provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families.”
According to the White House, “the Council will begin its work by asking each agency to analyze their current status and ensure that they are focused internally and externally on women.”
For the First Lady, Wednesday is about displaying her feminist credentials.
First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden will attend the signing event at the White House, pegged to National Women’s History Month.
Earlier on Wednesday, according to the White House, “Mrs. Obama will celebrate International Women’s Day with a visit to the State Department where she will join Secretary Hillary Clinton in presenting the Secretary of State’s Award for International Women of Courage.”
According to the White House, when Obama signs the executive order at the White House event, the audience will include “national women’s organizations and community groups, professional women, and a bipartisan group of congressional leaders.”
The White House said “the Council will be comprised of the heads (or their senior-level designees) of: the Cabinet agencies, certain other non-Cabinet agencies, and other Executive branch departments, agencies.”
