Smithsonian Women's History Museum Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. DAVIS of California. Madam Speaker, I rise to urge my colleagues to pass the Smithsonian Women's History Museum Act unanimously and immediately.

First, I congratulate my friend and colleague, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, on her decades of hard and successful work making the case for a women's museum.

Women are underrepresented in our nation's historical accounts, monuments, memorials, and museums.

Our past, present and as of now, our future are all marked by the absence of women's stories.

From Native American women and early pilgrims; to Abigail Adams when she wrote to her husband to ``remember the ladies''; to the suffrage movement; to the one thousand, one hundred, and two Women Airforce Service Pilots that revived our World War II effort; to Rosa Parks to Title Nine.

And I could go on and on and on.

Clearly, women have transformed the history of our country.

But the story of American women is not just in the historical moments. It is also the contributions of women in every aspect of our society.

There is a missing contextualization of the enormous impact that women have had in film, literature, science, government, education, culture, sports, and more.

We have the opportunity to tell the full story, so why are we only telling half of our history?

With these contributions showcased in a museum, we will no longer ask--Why don't we have a woman's National Museum?

But instead, we will celebrate how fitting it is for every girl and every woman to identify with our country's past and want to play a significant role in our future.

You can't be what you can't see.

Frankly, I cannot believe that this museum does not already exist.

I urge my colleagues to vote for the passage of this bill.

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