Reps. Maloney & Norton, Sen. Collins introduce bipartisan bill creating Commission to establish a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, DC –Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a bill to create a Federal commission to determine the feasibility of building a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is introducing the companion bill in the Senate.

“A museum dedicated to women’s history would help ensure that future generations understand what we owe to the many generations of American women who have helped build, sustain, and advance our society,” said Senator Collins. “They deserve a building to present the stories of pioneering women like abolitionist Harriet Tubman, founder of the Girl Scouts Juliette Gordon Low, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith, and astronaut Sally Ride.  This can and should be done at no expense to American taxpayers.”
 
“A Commission to establish the National Women’s History Museum would provide a blueprint to finally honor half of our nation’s population,” Rep. Maloney said. “Funded with private donations and not tax dollars, an institution like this would acknowledge and commemorate the deep and lasting impact women have made in American history. We already have museums for flight, postage stamps, law enforcement and many other important people and issues of interest; women are long overdue for this recognition of their contributions to the very fabric of our country.”

“Women have never been content simply to be half our population.  They have made remarkable contributions from the dawning days of the nation to today’s space and technological age,” Rep. Norton said.  “Yet, the nation has no central showcase for this essential part of our history.  That showcase for women’s contributions to the nation’s history should be in the nation’s capital.”

Over the years, both the Senate and House have passed different versions of a bill to create a National Women’s History Museum, but this is the first bill that would establish a commission, similar to the those that created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and planned the celebration of the centennial of Ronald Reagan’s birth.

The full text of the House version of the bill is viewable here.