White House Presents Awards to Group of Women on Int'l Women's Day...But Something Was Off

Leah Barkoukis | March 09, 2023 7:00 AM

During the 2023 International Women of Courage Awards on Wednesday, the White House drew criticism for giving an award to a biological male.

The event, now in its 17^th year, honored a group of women from around the world “who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equity and equality, and the empowerment of women and girls, in all their diversity – often at great personal risk and sacrifice,” according to the State Department.

While 11 awardees were named, one of them—Alba Rueda—is not like the others.

Alba Rueda, Argentina’s current Special Envoy for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, was the first Argentine Undersecretary for Diversity Policies in the newly created Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity. Ms. Rueda was the driving force behind Argentina’s executive order on the transgender labor quota in the public sector which was converted into the Transgender Labor Quota Act. She previously worked in the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights in their National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI) as well as the Argentine Secretariat for Human Rights. She is one of the founders of Argentina Trans Women (MTA) and actively engages with Notitrans, the first transgender magazine in Argentina. She actively campaigned to change the name of the National Women’s Conference to the “Plurinational Conference of Women and Lesbian, Cross-Dresser, Transgender, Bisexual, Intersex and Non-Binary Persons” to include diverse, dissident, and racialized identities. Her activism led her to fight for the Marriage Equality Act, the Gender Identity Act, and the Diana Sacayán and Lohana Berkins Act on the Promotion of Access to Formal Employment by Cross-Dresser, Transsexual and Transgender Persons. Her hope is to establish an LGBTQI+ foreign policy agenda and mainstream it into the various negotiation fora, including into multilateral fora and bilateral relations as well as represent the Global South. (State Department)

Biden celebrates #InternationalWomensDay by highlighting a biological male.

First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken awarded Alba Rueda, a biological male & transgender activist from Argentina, one of 11 of the International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards. pic.twitter.com/Y3qDjQAI87
— Caleb Parke (@calebparke) March 8, 2023

Alba Rueda—International Women of Courage Award

Rachel Levine—USA Today's Woman of the Year

Lia Thomas—nominated for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year

Fae Johnstone—Hershey's International Women’s Day honoree

Is the message supposed to be that men are better than women?

🤔
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 9, 2023

Jill Biden and Antony Blinken awarded a man with International Women Of Courage Award.

These people are making mockery out of women. This insanity must STOP! pic.twitter.com/KJD16UYoK2
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) March 8, 2023