Trump could cut Obama's White House Council on Women and Girls

The Trump administration appears poised to axe former President Barack Obama's White House Council on Women and Girls, a group designed to "monitor the impact of policy changes and liaise with women's groups," Politico writes. The council, established in 2009, has been defunct during its evaluation by the Trump administration.

President George W. Bush also disassembled a similar group when he took office: President Bill Clinton's Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach. A particular weight, though, would come with Trump's decision to unravel the Council on Women and Girls as the president has repeatedly been accused of making sexist remarks (we have a list of 51 times). The latest outrage, for example, came Thursday over Trump's comments about Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski.

Maintaining Obama's White House Council on Women and Girls would show "the priority you place on the issues surrounding women and girls," said Tina Tchen, who was the director of the group. But White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks said "we want the input of the various agencies to understand the assets they have so that we make this office additive, not redundant." Hicks also pointed to women and family-oriented policies pushed by Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But supporters of Obama's women's council say an entire dedicated office is needed to address the issues, not just one person. "I see no evidence, zero, that Donald Trump has anyone in his orbit to advocate for women and girls," National Organization for Women president Terry O'Neill told Politico. "We need a real office that would really advocate."