Biden White House debuts the U.S.’s first national gender strategy

– Strategic planning. This morning the White House is breaking some news. For the first time, a U.S. presidential administration is putting forward a national strategy on gender equity and equality.

What does that mean, exactly? Included in the new strategy are priorities we’ve heard about before from the Biden-Harris administration: economic security for women; women’s health, including abortion rights; ending gender-based violence; and more. But adopting a cohesive strategy “mark[s] for ourselves and for the world that this is going to be a priority in the years to come,” White House Gender Policy Council cochair Jen Klein tells Fortune.

The strategy is both domestic and global, outlining priorities to support women’s rights in the U.S. and abroad. It takes a cue from Scandinavian countries’ national policies on gender equity as well as Canada’s longtime national gender strategy.

On a practical level, there are some steps the federal government will be required to take to help meet these big-picture goals. Within the next nine months, every federal agency will be required to “establish and prioritize” at least three goals that align with the strategy’s 10 stated priorities and come up with a plan to achieve them. Agencies much achieve at least one with only the resources they currently have available.

The Biden administration calls the strategy a “whole of government approach.” We’ve already seen at least one example of what that looks like. The Biden administration’s response to SB8, the six-week abortion ban in Texas, drew on many of the principles and processes outlined in this strategy, although the response took place before the gender strategy’s public release. The whole of government approach, in that case, meant directing the Justice Department to take legal action; increasing funding for clinics outside the state that are seeing an influx of patients; and clarifying regulations for providers in Texas. “It was a microcosm of the way we approach the work,” says Klein.

This gender strategy, however, is meant to be a long-term, wide-ranging plan, not just a method of rapid response to state legislation. “This moment demands a bold and united response—a commitment to do more than just rebuild to a status quo that wasn’t working for women and girls, but rather to build back better,” President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris wrote in a letter introducing the strategy.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe. 

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Inspiration behind action. Last year, CeCe Cheng found herself in a relationship she now calls emotionally abusive—and the thing that helped her to recover, more than therapy, she says, was a support circle of her peers. Now she's founded a tech startup that aims to make peer support groups accessible at scale. Fortune

- Healthy deal. Everly Health, the telehealth and health testing company led by CEO Julia Cheek, has acquired Natalist, a women's health and fertility business led by CEO Vernita Brown and founded by Halle Tecco. Everly Health notes that the "multi-million-dollar exit" is one of few helmed by a Black female CEO and is especially rare in digital health. STAT News

- Girls who trade. IndexIQ is launching three new exchange-traded funds for socially conscious investors—one of which is partnered with Girls Who Code. The nonprofit will receive 10% of the management fee earned through the fund. Bloomberg

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Anjula Achariajoins the board of BuzzFeed. Former CIA director Gina Haspel will oversee the risk advisory service at King & Spalding. Peloton marketing SVP Dara Tresederjoins the board of Robinhood. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Stately duties. Dame Cindy Kiro was sworn in as the first Māori woman to be New Zealand's governor-general, or Queen Elizabeth II's representative in the country, this week. And in Barbados, governor-general Dame Sandra Mason was elected president as the country prepares to become a republic and no longer recognize the Queen as its head of state. 

- Going there. Katie Couric's new memoir has been making headlines for its "unflinching" look at her past, including stories that aren't always flattering to the former Today anchor. (There's her reflections on her years of friendship with Matt Lauer as well as her decision not to publish comments made by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that Couric thought made Ginsburg look bad.) This profile dives into Couric's complicated legacy. The Cut

- Still struggling. Months after the Tokyo Olympics, Simone Biles's battle with "the twisties" hasn't gone away on its own. In an interview yesterday, the gymnastics star shared how she's still struggling with her mental health—and how it's continued to affect her sport. Today

ON MY RADAR

I’m in my 20s. Here’s why I love watching shows about women in their 40s and 50s The Lily

Ilhan Omar urges creation of special envoy role to combat global anti-Muslim hate HuffPost

I’m the only woman on my team. How can I stop being self-conscious about it? The Lily

PARTING WORDS

"Love means also understanding what’s wrong and committing to pointing that out and trying to change those things that are wrong. And that’s how I feel about the South."

-Ashley M. Jones, Alabama's new poet laureate