Women and Girls - Obama Presidency Oral History

The Obama Presidency Oral History features wide-ranging coverage of themes, policies, and initiatives related to gender equality and women’s rights, and provides details about the administration’s efforts to increase opportunities for women and girls across the United States and around the world.

In the project archive, narrators discuss the experiences of female staff and officials in the Obama White House, the structure and activities of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and provisions related to women’s health and reproductive healthcare in the Affordable Care Act. They remember the East Wing’s “Let Girls Learn” global education initiative, the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, efforts to eliminate sexual assault on college campuses, and much more.

These stories are brought to life by White House aides, advisors, and officials; feminist activists and the leaders of major women’s rights organizations; military veterans; participants in administration programs and events; artists and intellectuals; and elected officeholders. Among many others, hear from activists for women veterans Ginger Miller and BriGette McCoy; equal pay advocate and Supreme Court plaintiff Lilly Ledbetter; Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards; White House Council on Women and Girls members Valerie Jarrett, Tina Tchen, and Jordan Brooks; legal scholar and activist Kimberlé Crenshaw; Spelman College president Beverly Daniel Tatum; and State Department science envoy Geraldine Richmond.

The Obama Presidency Oral History project’s coverage of Women and Girls overlaps and intersects with several other topic areas in the collection, including the East Wing, Education, Human Rights, Healthcare, and Veterans.