The governor of Oklahoma has signed an executive order establishing a Women’s Bill of Rights as concerns about the impact of trans ideology on fairness and privacy for women continue.
Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Tuesday that he had signed an executive order establishing a Women’s Bill of Rights in his state. He began his executive order by noting the significance of Title IX, legislation passed to ensure equal opportunities for women and girls in education, including in sports. Stitt warned, “Today, radical gender ideologues threaten the hard-fought progress won by women and girls in our society.”
Stitt stressed that his state had enacted a Save Women’s Sports Act requiring athletes to compete on sports teams that align with their biological sex as opposed to their stated gender identity, adding: “More remains to be done to counter the regression of women’s rights in this country.”
According to Stitt, “There are definitional, practical, and material differences between the sexes that have implications for our law in Oklahoma.”
The order specifies that agencies must “provide governmental services in single-sex environments where biology, privacy, and personal dignity are implicated.” It directed prisons to “provide dedicated facilities for men and women” and schools to provide “dedicated restrooms and locker room facilities for boys and girls.”
In a statement issued following his implementation of the executive order, Stitt vowed that “as long as I’m governor, we will continue to protect women and ensure women-only spaces are reserved solely for biological women.”
Somerlyn Cothran, senior vice president of investor relations at Independent Women’s Forum and Independent Women’s Voice, praised the executive order as a signal to girls and women that “they no longer have to fear for their safety in private female-only spaces.”
Independent Women’s Forum crafted a Women’s Bill of Rights that served as the model for Stitt’s executive order as well as measures implemented in two other states: Kansas and Tennessee.
