Women set to take on key roles in Biden administration

President elect Joe bidenJoe BidenTrump calls for recount in Georgia GOP Senator congratulates Biden, says Trump should accept results Judge dismisses Camp Trump’s trial in Pennsylvania in scathing decision MORE faces pressure to lean heavily on women as he fills his cabinet. So far, he seems determined to deliver.

Biden has vowed to emphasize diversity when building his team, and he’s already picked women for a series of key positions.

Biden appointed the senator. Kamala harrisSen. Kamala HarrisGOP congratulates Biden, says Trump should accept results Right must respect 2020 election symbolism Outside groups flood Georgia with ad buys ahead of second round MORE (D-Calif.) As Vice President, a historic choice that made her the first woman, the first black and the first elected Vice President of the American Indians.

Biden also appointed women to serve as White House counsel and deputy chief of staff.

According to figures from the transition team, 53% of Biden-Harris transition executives are women and 52% of all transition staff are women. More than half of the 500 people on Biden’s government agency review team are women.

“As he did during the campaign of his transition, Joe Biden will be intentional to find diverse voices to develop and implement his political vision to address our country’s most difficult challenges,” said an official with the Biden-Harris transition in a statement to The Hill.

Several women have been promoted to senior positions in the field of national security. Among them, Avril Haines, candidate for the leadership of the CIA or director of national intelligence; Susan Rice, candidate for Secretary of State; and Michele Flournoy, a favorite of the Secretary of Defense.

Biden said in his victory speech he wanted his administration to “look and act like” America, signaling that he would elevate women to powerful positions in the same way he did in his campaign.

“He did this with the appointment of Kamala Harris and he’s clearly doing it with whoever he chooses to be part of his transition,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University.

“If the goal at the end of the day is to have an administration that looks like America, having a transition team that looks like that will only make that process easier,” she added.

Many of the women in the mix for senior jobs are being considered for national security positions.

Flournoy was Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during the Obama administration and also worked in the Pentagon during the Clinton years. If Biden chooses her, she would become the first woman to be the head of the Pentagon.

Haines was Deputy Director of the CIA and later Senior Deputy National Security Advisor under Obama. She took time off from her post as deputy director of Columbia World Projects at Columbia University and was one of a handful of national security experts who briefed Biden on Tuesday as the Trump administration continues to refuse to cooperate with his transition team on sharing. intelligence and other matters.

Then there’s Rice, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor under former President Obama. Rice was also seen as a contender for the post of vice president.

Rice has been involved in negotiating the Paris climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal, both from which Trump has stepped down and which Biden is expected to seek to join once he takes office.

Jon Wolfsthal, the former senior director of arms control and non-proliferation at the National Security Council under the Obama administration, said many candidates for senior positions benefit from having previously worked with each other. other.

“They all know each other. They have worked together for many, many years. They are all experienced and respectful, ”Wolfsthal said, noting that it would be easy for them to develop a process once the new administration is in place.

A number of other women are promoted to prominent roles.

Wendy Sherman, who served as Under Secretary for Political Affairs under Obama, was appointed a potential ambassador to the United Nations, when she was a former acting United States attorney general. Sally yatesSally Caroline Yates Merrick Garland on Biden’s list of attorneys general, who Trump sacked 10 days in his administration for failing to sign his travel ban from majority Muslim countries, has been running for attorney general.

Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Janet YellenJanet Louise Yellen The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Washington, DC – Pence, Biden is waging tug-of-war against pandemic plans Biden says he will announce the choice of Secretary of the Treasury near Thanksgiving Roger Ferguson, Biden’s potential treasury pick, to retire in 2021 MORE and Federal Reserve Board member Lael Brainard are both considered prominent candidates for Secretary of the Treasury; Biden said this week he picked his candidate without revealing the person’s name.

Biden has already appointed a number of women to senior positions in the White House, including his campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon, who will serve as deputy chief of staff. Julie Rodriguez will assume the position of Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. Dana Remus is expected to take on the role of White House legal counsel and Annie Tomasini will be the Oval Office’s director of operations.

The transition team announced on Friday that Louisa Terrell will take on the role of director of the White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs, while Cathy Russell will work as director of presidential personnel.

“It will be a refreshing change to see women at the table, to see women of color and people of color who will be part of the decision-making process, who will shape policy every step of the way,” said Walsh.

The number of women appointed to senior positions in the Biden administration is expected to be an increase from the Trump administration, where white men make up the majority of senior positions.

Three women currently serve in Trump’s cabinet, including Education Secretary Betsy DeVosElizabeth (Betsy) Dee DeVosAmerica has a civic education problem – here’s how to fix it Biden’s education secretary must kick out the nefarious policies of the last four years of the House committee assigning education department staff to for-profit colleges PLUS, Transport secretary Elaine chaoElaine Lan Chao New administration and house turnover increase prospects for greater diversity on K Street Reinvestment in US leadership Travel industry calls on Trump administration to avoid need for quarantines by creating a test planand director of the CIA Gina HaspelGina Cheri Haspel Leadership Changes at Largest Cyber ​​Agency Raise National Security Concerns The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC – Trump and Biden clash over blocking transition, pandemic plans Trump seeks to settle scores in final days, who is the first woman to head the Central Intelligence Agency.

Trump’s White House has had more women in high-level positions, including two of its senior communications assistants, Kayleigh McEnany and Alyssa Farah; his domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins; his main advisor Hope HicksHope Charlotte Hicks President says Trump Jr. is doing ‘very well’ after COVID-19 diagnosis Donald Trump Jr. tests positive for COVID-19 White House staff member Giuliani’s son , tested positive for the PLUS coronavirus; and his daughter and senior advisor Ivanka trumpIvana (Ivanka) Marie Trump New York Expands Investigations into Trump’s Tax Evasion to Include Write-offs: Lara Trump Report Reflects on 2022 North Carolina Senate: Report Republicans Need a Good Wife for 2024 MORE. Kellyanne conwayKellyanne Elizabeth ConwayLara Trump Reflects on 2022 North Carolina Senate: Press Report: Where’s Jim Baker When We Need Him? Lack of Influence Means Time to Dismiss Project Lincoln LEARN MORE, who was Trump’s third campaign manager in 2016 and the first woman to successfully run a U.S. presidential campaign, also worked as a senior White House adviser before leaving this summer.

Thirty percent of Obama’s first term was made up of women, while his second term was 35 percent women, according to CAWP data. Thirty-two percent of former President Clinton’s first term in cabinet was made up of women, and that number rose to 41 percent in his second term.

Twenty-six percent of Trump’s cabinet is made up of women, slightly more than the administration of former President George W. Bush, where 19% of the cabinet was made up of women in his first term and 24% in of his second term.

Biden’s number of female nominations only adds to the growing number of women in powerful positions in Washington, with a record number of female parliamentarians being elected to office in the last election.

“Every time a woman holds these high-level leadership positions, it sends a message to girls, young women and women across the country that they can do it too,” said Walsh.