Get ready to add another site to your list of tourist to-dos in Washington, D.C. The House voted this week to build another Smithsonian Museum, this one dedicated entirely to women.
In a rare bipartisan effort, the legislative chamber voted 374 to 37 in favor of a new women’s history museum on the National Mall. The measure would create a council that would work with the Smithsonian Board of Regents on the design, construction, and location of the museum. But first, it must pass the Senate.
The museum is supposed to fill a historical vacuum, according to the bill’s sponsors. Women have been neglected for too long, explained Democratic New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, citing a lack of national landmarks and textbook entries dedicated to prominent women who have shaped America for the better.
“Women have been left out of the telling of the nation’s history,” she said on the House floor. “This is about giving women — all women — our rightful place in history.”
Women deserve recognition for the impact they’ve made throughout history. A museum built in their honor would do more than just that: It would also preserve the memory of the past struggle for equality and remind future generations of young women that sacrifices were made so they can stand where they are now.
But it would be wrong to claim women don’t already receive historical recognition. The Treasury Department is currently designing a new $20 bill that will feature Harriet Tubman, to name one example. And throughout the entire month of March, which was designated by Congress as Women’s History Month back in 1987, Washington’s many museums feature unique displays dedicated to female triumphs.
There’s also the question of what this museum could become, given the current political environment. Will it celebrate the sexual revolution? What will female empowerment look like, according to the Smithsonian? And what about abortion? Will the museum dedicate an entire exhibit to reproductive “rights” and the struggle to keep them?
Women have accomplished a lot, and we should be proud of that. But it’s difficult to justify a $375 million building dedicated to female empowerment when we can’t even decide what that means.
