For Women's History Month, Vice President Mike Pence joined the Independent Women's Forum to celebrate women from the past and present who are working to expand opportunities, improve the quality of life in our communities, and strengthen our nation.

As Vice President Pence noted in his speech during the reception, 

"Heroes in public life are one thing, but we have to commend all the women who are heroes each and every day in businesses, and our communities, and in our homes across this nation.  It’s the women of America who in every real sense throughout our history have lifted our communities, have lifted our families, have lifted our nation.  They’ve built businesses.  They’ve built communities.  They’ve helped build families into this extraordinary fabric that we call American life."

Some of those women are right in the White House, Congress, and leading states across the nation

Look at these 27 women working with President Trump and VPence to push our nation forward:

  1. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos

  2. Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon

  3. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao

  4. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen 

  5. Secretary of the United States Air Force Heather Wilson 

  6. Administrator of the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services Seema Verma

  7. U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza 

  8. Ambassador to the United Nations for the U.S. Nikki Haley

  9. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders 

  10. White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp

  11. Kellyanne Conway 

  12. Ivanka Trump 

  13. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa

  14. Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska

  15. Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

  16. Congresswoman Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, a member of the Republican leadership.  

  17. Congresswoman Diane Black of Tennessee 

  18. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee

  19. Congresswoman Kristi Noem of South Dakota

  20. Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez of Puerto Rico

  21. Congresswoman Martha McSally of Arizona

  22. Congresswoman Mia Love of Utah

  23. Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming

  24. Governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma

  25. Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa

  26. Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama

  27. Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico

Gina Haspel has also been nominated to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency – the first woman to serve in the role.

Looking back, VP Pence also acknowledge several female heroes from our nation's history:

  • Mary Katherine Goddard printed the second copy of the Declaration of Independence in the midst of our Revolutionary War.

  • Harriet Tubman put her life on the line to escape slavery and then turned around and helped hundreds of other enslaved Americans through the Underground Railroad. 

  • Susan B. Anthony who was not just a tireless warrior for the women’s right to vote but the right to life.

There are so many female heroes in Washington and in states. Girls have women they can look up to and our nation is stronger because of the work they do every day.