With so much at stake for women and for equality, Ms. will be reporting on the first 100 days of the new Biden-Harris administration. Every Wednesday, we will keep you updated, informed and ready to push forward! 

BY DOROTHY SUE COBBLE | The far-seeing women who pushed for and won the first federal commission on women 60 years ago had a bold and comprehensive plan to move America toward greater equality and well being. President Biden’s American Recovery Plan—informed by the new Gender Policy Council—should follow their lead.

Shortly after John F. Kennedy took his oath of office in 1961, Assistant Secretary of Labor Esther Peterson and her feminist allies convinced the new Democratic president to issue an executive order setting up the President’s Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW). After 18 months of deliberation, involving hundreds of participants from all walks of life, the PCSW issued a blockbuster program for change.

Ahead of its time in more ways than one, the PCSW endorsed policies that are back on the front burner in 2021: paid maternity leave, affordable child care, income guarantees to lessen child poverty, and ending discrimination based on sex, race, religion and national origin. (To read the full article, click here.)