President Joe Biden is signing two executive orders Monday to create a Gender Policy Council and review Trump-era changes to college campus sexual assault policies.
In a White House statement, Biden said, “Elevating the status of women and girls globally is the right thing to do — it is a matter of justice, fairness, and decency, and it will lead to a better, more secure, and more prosperous world for us all.””
Biden will sign both orders to coincide with International Women’s Day, March 8.
According to an administration official speaking on background, the goal of the orders is "restoring America as a champion for gender equity and equality."
The first order will create a Gender Policy Council in the White House, building on the White House Council on Women and Girls, an office created during the Obama administration and later disbanded during the President Donald Trump’s administration.
Administration officials said the name change was deliberate to "to reflect the fact that gender discrimination can happen to people of all genders." Officials added the council will focus “on women and girls, particularly women and girls of color, given the historical and disproportionate barriers that they face."
The office will be co-chaired by Jennifer Klein, who worked on women’s issues going back to the Clinton administration, and Julissa Reynoso, first lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff.
The second order will reverse polices on college campus sexual assault and harassment that were issued last year by Trump’s education secretary Betsy DeVos.
Biden’s order, directed at the Department of Education, orders it to review all regulations, especially DeVos’ regulation under Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in a school or education program that receives federal money.
The administration said the goal is to ensure students are guaranteed an education free from sexual violence.
