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WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: Vice President Kamala Harris fist bumps President-elect Joe Biden after she was sworn in at their inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today's inauguration ceremony Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)

The State of Women's Leadership

Kamala Harris is a lot of firsts: She is the first woman, the first Black person, and the first Indian American person to become vice president of the United States. With her historic inauguration, Vice President Harris has risen higher in national leadership than any woman in U.S. history.

Harris will bring to the White House a strong track record of commitment to women's equality, as demonstrated by her progressive proposals on equal pay, paid family and medical leave, reproductive rights, and Black maternal health, as well as her insistence during her presidential campaign that all issues are women's issues.

However, even with the strides made in 2020—and the promise of progress in 2021—women are far from reaching gender parity in political leadership. There are 118 women in the U.S. House of Representatives (27 percent), 24 women in the Senate (24 percent), and nine women governors (18 percent); 49 out of 50 state legislatures are made up of less than 50 percent women.

For the past four years, Harris was the only Black woman serving in the Senate and only the second Black woman ever to do so. With her departure, the Senate now has no Black women within its ranks.

In order to ensure that the United States becomes a reflective democracy, policymakers and advocates must address the significant inequities and barriers that women face when pursuing elected office.

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In the Spotlight

The United States Could Be In the Early Days of a Domestic Insurgency

Trump supporters near the U.S. Capitol, January 2020.

The storming of the U.S. Capitol building—which left at least five people dead—was not a protest gone awry. It was violence with a political goal in mind: preventing the lawful certification of presidential election results to disrupt the peaceful transition of power.br />
>Once an insurgency has momentum, it is difficult to stop it—and the pro-Trump extremist movement will endure even now that Trump is out of office. This is especially true, considering some of those who incited the attack remain in Congress.

Left unaddressed, this movement could become a full-fledged insurgency that poses an enduring threat to Americans. The way our government responds now is crucial.

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Major Stories

Thousands of people gather at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House to celebrate the announcement that Joe Biden will be the 46th president of the United States, Washington, November 2020.

Centering Racial Equity in a New Administration

With the pandemic raging on, the current economic crisis will continue to exacerbate centuries of underlying disparities and have a disproportionate impact on Black Americans. The new administration must meet this moment with a full-scale plan to tackle racial inequality.

Farm laborers from Fresh Harvest working with an H-2A visa maintain a safe distance as a machine is moved in Greenfield, California, on April 27, 2020.

Protecting Undocumented Workers on the Pandemic's Front Lines

The pandemic has exposed how essential the 10.4 million undocumented immigrants and their jobs are. Providing a path to legal status for these undocumented immigrants is a key tool to fight the coronavirus and rebuild the country and its economy.

The White House is seen in May 2005, Washington, D.C.

The Need for a White House Office of Democracy Reform

The United States has just emerged from an election that was, as incoming Director of the Domestic Policy Council Susan Rice said, "our democracy's near-death experience." One way that the Biden administration can help address this crisis of democracy is to create a new office within the Domestic Policy Council that focuses specifically on democracy reform.

Homes sit next to the Gulf of Mexico in Grand Isle, the only inhabited barrier Island in Louisiana, which is threatened by a combination of sea level rise and sinking land due to climate change, August 2019.

20 Steps for a New Ocean and Climate Agenda

Global ocean-based climate solutions have the potential to provide up to one-fifth of the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This column outlines 20 steps for the administration's first 100 days to recommit to climate leadership and action.

From The @POTUS Desk

President Biden
Jan 20

The time to move forward is now.

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