March has been proclaimed Women’s History Month.

Is it just lip-service? Pandering? Women’s hard-fought rights – to vote, pay equity, equal access to education and jobs, to health care and most importantly, the right to make their own health care and reproductive decisions – have been under the greatest attack since, well, the beginning, in 1920 when women finally won the hard-fought right to vote at all.

There is an effort to reverse course on all of these rights, trampling a woman’s equal citizenship and personhood, making her a creature of the state, a mere uterus no more significant than a broodmare.

It is so ironic (hypocritical) considering the right-wingers’ hysteria over mask and vaccine mandates that expropriate the slogan, “My body, my choice.”

President Biden, in proclaiming Women’s History Month, outlined “systemic barriers to women’s full and equal participation in society and the economy, especially for women of color and tribal women.” Of course, the most powerful systemic barrier is being denied reproductive freedom, especially in the context of inadequate prenatal and maternal health care, paid parental leave, affordable child care and elder care (the list goes on) that stack the deck against women.

President Biden gets it. “Despite the progress being made, women and girls – especially women and girls of color – still face systemic barriers to full participation and wider gaps in opportunity and equality. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated those disparities which have disproportionately impacted women’s labor force participation, multiplied the burden on paid and unpaid caregivers, and increased rates of gender-based violence. The constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade is facing an unprecedented assault as States pass increasingly onerous restrictions to critical reproductive health care and bodily autonomy. Workers contend with gender and racial wage gaps that can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars denied over the course of their lifetimes. The Congress sent the Equal Rights Amendment to the States for ratification 50 years ago and it is long past time that the principle of women’s equality should be enshrined in our Constitution.”

In contrast, Republicans show their contempt for women most obviously in their failure to reauthorize the Violence Against Women’s Act. And now Senate Republicans have once again weaponized the filibuster to defeat the Women’s Health Protection Act, which House Democrats passed.

“With the anti-choice supermajority on the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, our fundamental freedom to make personal decisions about if, when, and how to start or grow a family is under threat,” NARAL Pro Choice America wrote. “Every person must have the freedom to control their own lives, bodies, and futures, free from political interference. That’s why we need to protect reproductive freedom for everybody.”

“The WHPA would guarantee people’s right to abortion nationwide; ensure everyone is able to make their own health care decisions; and keep politics out of people’s reproductive choices,” Senator Richard Blumenthal tweeted. “Today I’m proud to vote Yes on WHPA.”

The bill died in a matter of moments, killed by Senate Republicans and Joe Manchin. Its demise barely made the news.

“At a time when women’s access to reproductive health care is under increased assault in states across the country, it is extremely disappointing that Senate Republicans blocked passage of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would strengthen health care access and codify constitutional rights affirmed half a century ago by Roe v. Wade and in subsequent Supreme Court precedent,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki stated.

“Today, we mark six months since Texas law SB8 went into effect, brazenly violating Texans’ constitutional rights and empowering private citizens to act as bounty hunters against their neighbors. Now, a number of other states are also considering passing laws in open defiance of the U.S. Constitution, threatening the reproductive freedom of all Americans. These restrictions are particularly devastating for communities of color, rural Americans, and all those faced with fewer options and fewer resources.

“As dangerous new laws proliferate in states across the country, the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to explore the measures and tools at our disposal to stand up for women’s equality. This is a moment for us to recommit to strengthening access to women’s health care, defend the constitutional right affirmed by Roe, and protect the freedom of all people to build their own future.”

Biden has done what he could to promote women’s rights. He has made gender equality a top priority from the earliest days of his administration and made historic Executive actions to launch government-wide efforts to advance gender and racial equity.

“We are working to expand access to health care, including reproductive health care for all people regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, income, or zip code,” he said. We are fighting to lower the costs of child care and provide access to free preschool for all three- and four-year-olds. We issued a call to action to eliminate racial disparities in maternal health care, which disproportionately impact Black and Indigenous women. And my Administration established a Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund to advance the rights and economic security of women and girls around the world.”

Gender and racial equity is also integral to his economic priorities, as he described in his State of the Union address, including affordable child care and elder care, and a national comprehensive paid family and medical leave program.

Biden has been true to his word in appointing the most diverse and gender-balanced Cabinet in American history, including the first woman — and woman of color — to serve as Vice President, Kamala Harris. And in just the past week, he fulfilled a campaign promise by nominating the first Black woman, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court.

Autocracies and theocracies have this in common: repression of women. But when women obtain equal rights, access to education and economic opportunities, societies thrive. (International Women’s Day is March 8.) That has been the case in this country since Roe v. Wade, Title 9 and a host of court cases (many fought by Ruth Bader Ginsburg) that challenged sex discrimination.

“This Women’s History Month, as we reflect on the achievements of women and girls across the centuries and pay tribute to the pioneers who paved the way, let us recommit to the fight and help realize the deeply American vision of a more equal society where every person has a shot at pursuing the American dream. In doing so, we will advance economic growth, our health and safety, and the security of our Nation and the world,” Biden proclaimed.