Maloney’s Women’s History Museum bill heads to House floor

Queens U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney is the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum most ardent supporter. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite.

By Victoria Merlino

A Smithsonian museum dedicated to women’s history may be coming soon to Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian Women’s History Museum Act, which would create the first women’s history museum on the National Mall, unanimously passed the Committee on House Administration, and will head to the House floor. 

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who represents Western Queens, is the bill’s lead sponsor — and its primary champion. 

“With the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum — the first comprehensive women’s history museum in the country — we can finally tell the other half of our nation’s story,” Maloney said in a statement. “But creating this museum isn’t just about understanding our past; it’s an investment in our future. In celebrating the achievements of women in history, we’re educating and inspiring the next generation to make history themselves.”

Maloney has pushed for the museum since 2003. In 2014, Congress created a Congressional Commission to evaluate the need for a women’s history museum, an effort spearheaded by Maloney. In 2016, the commission recommended that a women’s history museum be built.

The museum would serve stories that have historically gone untold on a national level: according to a fact sheet released by Maloney, only nine out of 91 statues in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall depict women and only 5 percent of the approximately 2,400 national monuments honor women. Additionally, there is no museum solely dedicated to women’s history in the United States.