Jill, Melania, Hillary and Michelle team up for women’s suffrage monument

Jill Biden, Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, and Hillary Clinton have teamed up with their fellow living first ladies to advocate for a monument to women’s suffrage.

The four women, along with Laura Bush and Rosalynn Carter, will serve together as Honorary Chairs of the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation, the organization announced on Monday.

The group of women is throwing their support to the nonprofit that is working to fundraise and construct on the National Mall a monument to the movement that gave women the right to vote.  

‘Women have often been silenced, their stories too frequently untold. We must tell their stories and memorialize the women who led the single largest expansion of voting rights in American history,’ Jill Biden in a statement.

‘I’m honored to stand alongside fellow First Ladies as an Honorary Chair of the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation to tell a more complete story of America’s history and inspire future generations to continue building a better future for us all,’ she added.

It’s unclear if the former first ladies will appear together for any events for the monument – such as fundraisers or its eventual unveiling. 

Jill Biden, Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, and Hillary Clinton have teamed up with their fellow living first ladies to advocate for a monument to women’s suffrage

In December 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed into law legislation to install the first-ever outdoor monument honoring the women’s suffrage movement.

He signed it in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

Melania Trump was in the Oval Office when he signed the legislation.

‘One of my fondest memories as First Lady was commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment in the White House and ensuring the diverse and moving stories of women’s fight for the right to vote were taught and told. It was a privilege to join President Trump in the Oval Office when he signed the legislation,’ she said in a statement. 

The Women’s Suffrage National Monument will be unveiled in summer 2027. 

It is being paid for with private donations. 

The most recent addition to the National Mall, the World War I Memorial, cost $42 million.

The Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation was established to fundraise, design, develop, and construct the actual monument.

It began when co-founders Jane DeDecker, a sculptor from Iowa, and Jody Shadduck-McNally, a former Democratic statehouse member from Colorado, realized that fewer than 5% of monuments in Washington, D.C. tell women’s stories.

They advocated to place a national monument to the movement. 

The monument willl honor women suffragettes and activists – such as the ones seen above in 1913 in front of the Capitol

In December 2020, then-President Donald Trump – above with Melania Trump – signed into law legislation to install the first-ever outdoor monument honoring the women’s suffrage movement

Anna Laymon, executive director of the foundation, has said the monument would recognize the contributions of suffragettes and women’s rights activists such as Susan B. Anthony, Madam C.J. Walker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Harriot Stanton Blatch, Ida B. Wells and Alice Paul. 

The Foundation is working with the National Park Service, National Capital Planning Commission, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, and National Capital Memorial Advisory Committee to select the site for the monument and finalize the monument’s design.