Women’s History Is Set to Receive Greater Recognition in America’s National Park System

The National Park Service faces a gender inequality issue. Among the 429 units it manages—including parks, preserves, monuments, battlefields, and scenic trails—most are centered on male figures. Research from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Where Women Made History project revealed that only 18 percent of these units are linked to women’s history. The Biden Administration aims to address this imbalance.

On March 27, President Biden enacted an executive order to enhance the recognition of women’s history within the National Park Service. Brenda Malloy, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, stated to Dinogo that “reflecting the contributions of all Americans and communities” is a key priority for both the President and Vice President Kamala Harris. “Women have played crucial roles in many events, yet they have not been adequately represented in our historical site designations,” Malloy remarked.

The National Park Service, which manages the National Register of Historic Places, currently features several sites that honor women, including the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park and the Clara Barton National Historic Site, both located in Maryland. Additional National Park Service units showcase women's contributions to pivotal moments in U.S. history, such as the Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts, which narrates the experiences of women during the Industrial Revolution, and the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park in California, which celebrates the vital roles of American women during World War II.

While the NPS website includes a section that highlights a few locations connected to women’s history (and claims that “all parks contain women’s history”), the organization falls short in formally recognizing specific remarkable women and their contributions, leading to many stories going untold.

Malloy shared with Dinogo that “the Biden administration has been dedicated from the start to making our country more inclusive and representative.” Since 2021, President Biden has expanded the national park system with new sites, including the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, honoring the Till family's impact on the Civil Rights movement; the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument, which safeguards lands and historic sites near the Grand Canyon sacred to tribal nations and Indigenous peoples; and Camp Amache in Colorado, where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II. Malloy emphasized that the President’s recent executive order furthers this commitment to diversity and will ensure “the federal sites across the nation reflect more of women’s contributions.”

The executive order instructs the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, to conduct a thorough review of existing historic sites and national parks that hold significance for women’s history, as well as to identify other locations that have yet to be designated as federal historic sites. The NPS will also investigate influential women throughout U.S. history to determine which should be commemorated at current National Park Service sites.

Malloy informed Dinogo that an advisory board, comprising historians, archaeologists, and other experts, “will assist in identifying locations and women who may have been overlooked in the past” and “offer suggestions on how to better tell women’s stories” moving forward. This initiative aims to “bring attention to important narratives that have been neglected,” she explained. One focus for the project is the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, where the contributions of Sacagawea and other women could be emphasized.

Malloy expressed to Dinogo her hope that the National Park Service will discover more sites akin to the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument in Washington, D.C., which she was instrumental in establishing in 2016. This historic house served as the base from which Alice Paul and the National Women’s Party championed the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. Visitors today can tour the home and explore documents tied to the suffragette movement.

“As our country evolves and we consider how to share and celebrate stories, it’s essential to take them beyond museums and into the places where history unfolded,” Malloy stated. “This approach leads to a different form of recognition.” By preserving the landscape and enabling visitors to witness what a location looked like during pivotal historical moments, it “allows people to envision what it was like then and reflect on what it signifies for them today.”