President Obama took a step forward on equality in creating a White House council on gender that will be chaired by his trusted friend and adviser, Valerie Jarrett:

"The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families," reads a memo describing the move and obtained by The Fix.

May I recommend passing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) or some other comprehensive gender equality bill? To date, we're the only developed country to have refused to ratify CEDAW (We join the ranks of such bastions of freedom and justice as Iran, Nauru, Palau, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan and Tonga) Besides, just look at what San Francisco has done with CEDAW at just a city-wide level.

A lot of work remains to be done, but it can--and must--be done.