Women at the Whithouse
Women in the White House
Posted by Jenny Yeager, Special Assistant to the Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement
My name is Jenny Yeager and I am the Special Assistant to the Director
of Public Liaison, Tina Tchen. That means that I help her and our whole
team with a wide variety of events. Whether it’s organizing one of our
complex Summits, directly reaching out to constituents, meeting with
our legal team, or organizing special events in the White House, one
thing’s for sure, being a part of the Public Engagement team is never
dull!
My biggest single project so far was
probably organizing Women’s History Month. In the White House and
across the Administration, we have so many intelligent, energetic and
passionate women (and men!) focused on improving the lives of women,
children and families in the US and abroad. It’s an honor to be working
among such amazing people. But coordinating all of these voices can be
a big challenge.
Our office is the glue that pulls
these people together for special projects like Women’s History Month.
Over the course of a few weeks we held meetings with the Vice
President’s office, the First Lady’s office, our Cabinet Affairs team,
Intergovernmental Affairs, Legislative Affairs and several other key
players. Together, we came up with several creative ways to highlight
the many ways women contribute to our communities, our cities and
states, to the country and to the world.
First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the month by visiting the Women In Military Service For America Memorial in Arlington, VA.
At the monument she honored the servicewomen who have served and
continue to tirelessly serve our country. She followed up this visit
with a trip to Miriam’s Kitchen, a facility in Washington that serves
meals to the hungry. Not only did she serve food herself, she
encouraged the whole White House staff to bring in fruit and fresh
vegetables for the Kitchen. The staff here at the White House brought
in enough fruit and vegetables to feed 200 families breakfast and
dinner for 2 weeks.
The week after that, the State
Department honored courageous actions of women all over the world in a
ceremony with the First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
And the good news is that the work to
help women and girls will not stop after Women’s History Month! In
mid-March, President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. This
Council will be made up of Secretaries and Administrators throughout
the Federal Government. Its overarching purpose is to improve the lives
of women and girls by developing smart policy that takes the impact on
that community into account.
The Council will be very busy, so look forward to more information on our activities soon!
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