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There’s No Monument To Women On The National Mall. These Lawmakers Aim To Change That

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Women are missing from the National Mall—a monument to them, at least—but Congress is trying to change that.

Democrats Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Joe Neguse and Republicans Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Rep. Debbie Lesko plan to introduce a bill that would pave the way for a monument to honor the early fight for women's equality in America. It follows 2020 legislation sanctioning such a monument on federal lands in Washington D.C. Now, Congress needs to authorize placement on the National Mall. The bipartisan, bicameral group is targeting early March for the filing of the “Women's Suffrage National Monument Location Act” to coincide with Women’s History Month. Ahead of that deadline, they are hoping to enlist major support from their colleagues—specifically, the endorsement of every woman currently serving in Congress.

Sen. Baldwin cited her home state of Wisconsin’s history as the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment, as a key motivating factor behind her work on the bill. “This history–and the women who made it–deserve to be featured on our National Mall in recognition of the indispensable role that women play in our democracy,” said Baldwin.

Working alongside Baldwin and the other cosponsors of the bill to garner widespread congressional support is the Women's Suffrage National Monument Foundation. Led by Executive Director Anna Laymon, the foundation is working hard to position the legislation as something that everyone can get behind.

Laymon said that means building “a tidal wave” of cosponsors for the bill. “If we could have all the women of Congress standing together, that kind of show of unity, that’s how this thing will pass without question.”

Bringing additional political firepower to the project is the involvement of all of the living First Ladies. Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, Melania Trump and Dr. Jill Biden all serve as honorary co-chairs of the foundation. According to Laymon, this is the only organization where all six living First Ladies serve together beyond the Kennedy Center, where involvement is assumed based on historical precedence.

"There's something very unifying about this project," said Laymon. "How many projects could have Melania Trump and Hillary Clinton as honorary chairs? That just speaks to the fact that this is one of a handful of things that all Americans can come together and agree on and support."

Additionally, the foundation has amassed a star-studded group of ambassadors. Members include actress Rosario Dawson, author Malcolm Gladwell, filmmaker Ken Burns and Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman. Barbara Mikulski, who retired from the Senate six years ago after herself making history, is also making time for the project.

"As the longest-serving woman in congressional history, I can attest to the fact that democracy is not a spectator sport," Mikulski said of her involvement with the project. "I am proud to be an ambassador of this monument because it will be a reminder to all Americans that for democracy to work, you have to work at democracy."

Even with the enthusiasm behind the project, the road to seeing a monument go from conception to reality on the Mall is long and littered with red tape. Assuming Congress passes the legislation—a requirement to move forward under the 2003 Commemorative Works Clarification and Revision Act—there's still the process of raising funding, zeroing in on a specific site and the not-so-small matter of settling on an artist and design.

While much is still to be determined, the plan for the monument is to depict real women from U.S. history, according to Laymon. Memorializing historical figures—women such as Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells and Elizabeth Cady Stanton—sets the plan for the monument apart from one existing monument on the Mall in a critical way.

Currently, the only monument that exists as a tribute to women on the Mall, which boasts 36 million visitors a year, is the Vietnam Women's Memorial. It features three unnamed women tending to an injured male soldier and exists as a part of the larger Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It was added more than a decade after the initially planned memorial was completed.

Though support for the creation of a monument that centers women, not as an afterthought or addition, is evident, Laymon still encounters some opposition to the project.

"One of the things that people try to do with this history is to make it niche," said Laymon. "They say it's just women's history. I reject that. This is American history, and women happen to play a central role in it."

The most common argument Laymon hears is the idea that opening the door to this monument will open it to too many others. There are some who believe the National Mall is already full, and then there are others who think it's too full for this kind of history.

“There are hundreds of acres of green space on the National Mall,” said Laymon, “We are asking for one.”

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