On behalf of the 38 organizations committed to advancing gender equality at home and abroad, we applaud your administration’s decision to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and to have Vice President Kamala Harris deliver the U.S.’s remarks at the 65th Commission on the Status of Women. Additionally, we welcome your Executive Order formally establishing the White House Gender Policy Council and its mandate to develop the Government-Wide Strategy to Advance Gender Equity and Equality. Coupled with the Presidential Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad and the Presidential Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons Around the World, these actions begin to restore the U.S. as an authoritative voice on human rights and gender equality.

In light of your administration’s stated commitment to U.S. leadership and partnership on gender equality and human rights on the global stage, we are writing to urge you to personally attend and participate in the Generation Equality Forum taking place in Paris between June 30 – July 2.

The Generation Equality Forum, a partnership between UN Women, the governments of Mexico and France, feminist and youth movements and advocates from every sector of society, are intended to take place outside of the formal intergovernmental process in order to allow bold thinking and ambition – they are a space only for champions of gender equality. As such, they provide an opportunity for the United States to demonstrate its renewed commitment to human rights and make commitments towards the goals of the six Generation Equality Action Coalitions: gender-based violence, economic justice and rights, bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights, feminist action for climate justice, technology and innovation for gender equality, and feminist movements and leadership.

We urge the United States to make strong, cross-cutting, and specific commitments in both domestic and foreign policy, to catalyze progress on all 6 of the Action Coalition themes.