Women

Senator Blackburn Commemorates Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment With Female Colleagues

Senator Blackburn Leads All-Female Delegation to U.S.-Mexico Border Focused on Preventing Human Trafficking

Senator Blackburn Celebrates International Women’s Day With Her Daughter & Mother

President Trump Signs Senator Blackburn’s Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act Into Law

As the first woman to represent the state of Tennessee in the United States Senate, Senator Blackburn has been a trailblazer for women throughout her distinguished career. Her leadership philosophy is based on her experiences in the private sector as a small businesswoman, mother and grandmother.

Senator Blackburn attended college on a 4-H scholarship. She worked her way through school by selling books for the Southwestern Company as one of their first female sales associates, and later as one of their first female sales managers. Building on that experience, she then founded her own business, Marketing Strategies, which focused on the retail marketplace, as well as electronic and print media.

Upon beginning her career in public service in 1995, Senator Blackburn helped pave the way for women and has prioritized crafting legislation that empowers and protects women on a broad range of issues, from Title IX and women’s sports to human trafficking, female veterans’ access to health care, and more.

What Senator Blackburn Is Doing To Support Women

Since taking public office, Senator Blackburn has ardently fought to protect women and children. In 1999, she helped found the Davis House, a center to help children being abused, and has also supported initiatives such as the Scarlet Rope Center in Jackson, Tennessee, to assist victims of human trafficking. She discussed with leaders of the project their work that provides healing and restoration to female survivors of human trafficking who are 18 years and older.

One in four women will be a victim of domestic violence in her lifetime, and in the United States, three women are killed each day by an intimate partner. However, some women, even at their most vulnerable and isolated, will continue going to the salon and building relationships with their cosmetologists. The SALONS Stories Act would incentivize training for cosmetologists and beauticians so that they can spot signs of domestic violence among their clients and get them the help they need. This initiative replicates a program in Tennessee, Shear Haven, that has helped countless girls and women.

Furthermore, human trafficking disproportionately affects girls and women, and more than 90 percent of female trafficking victims are trafficked for sexual exploitation. Senator Blackburn has been a leader in the fight to end this modern-day slavery and curb the smuggling and trafficking of young women and girls.

In 2023, Senator Blackburn led an all-female delegation with Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) to the Del Rio Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, where they witnessed firsthand human smugglers leading illegal immigrants across the border and into the United States. The Senators held a roundtable where they learned about cartel activity in Mexico and the work being done to rescue victims of human trafficking.

Following her trip, Senator Blackburn introduced the bipartisan SAVE Girls Act, which would provide states, local governments, and nonprofits with vital resources they need to train personnel, conduct rescues, and help save trafficking victims.

Under the Biden administration's radical agenda, President Biden has attempted to undermine the integrity of women’s sports and Title IX — the landmark civil rights law that codified protections on the basis of sex.

Particularly, Title IX opened the floodgates to allow women in sports by requiring equal resources for facilities, training, recruitment, and scholarships for female athletic programs. Because of Title IX’s passage over 50 years ago, women’s sports were revolutionized, and the number of female high school and college athletes exploded.

However, President Biden’s relentless assault on women in the athletic space has led to a complete and total erosion of Title IX’s protections under his administration. In 2022, on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the Department of Education announced a set of new rules that formally enshrined the ability of students to participate in activities that do not align with their sex, essentially forcing schools to allow biological males to play on female teams. In 2024, the administration redefined “discrimination” to allow biological men to use women-only locker rooms and bathrooms.

Senator Blackburn has co-sponsored the Women’s Bill of Rights, which would legally define basic sex-based terms and protect single-sex spaces for women, including rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, athletic teams, locker rooms, and sororities.

Following this “reimagination” of Title IX, Senator Blackburn slammed the Biden administration and sent letters to President Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Corona condemning the new rules that will harm young girls and women. Additionally, Senator Blackburn led over 20 of her Republican colleagues in introducing a resolution to recognize October 10 as ‘American Girls in Sports Day’ to celebrate the contributions made by women and changing the world of athletics.

Furthermore, Senator Blackburn has stood up to efforts by the radical Left to erase the word “woman” from the history books. Most notably, during then-Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2022, Senator Blackburn asked the judicial nominee a simple question: “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman?’” Judge Jackson’s failure to answer the question sent shockwaves through the nation, indicating a belief that “woman” is too controversial a term for the Left to define.

Furthermore, Senator Blackburn has been an ardent champion for women in the pro-life space.

Following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2022, Senator Blackburn introduced the Unborn Child Support Act to give mothers the ability to receive child support payments while they are pregnant and ensure access to necessary financial resources.

Senator Blackburn has also introduced legislation aimed at protecting the health of pregnant women and unborn children by providing adequate medical information for informed consent before abortions. The Woman’s Right To Know Act sets reasonable medical standards for physicians to meet to protect both the life of the mother and the child before an abortion can be performed.

Additionally, Senator Blackburn understands that supporting mothers is critical to defending life at all stages. To promote access to quality health care and financial support for mothers, she joined the More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed (MOMS) Act, which would provide critical support to women during typically challenging phases of motherhood – prenatal, postpartum, and early childhood development – and bolster access to resources and assistance to help mothers and their children thrive. Senator Blackburn has also introduced the Baby Changing on Board Act, which would support mothers by requiring all new Amtrak trains to be equipped with baby changing stations.

As the first woman elected to represent the state of Tennessee in the United States Senate, Senator Blackburn has led several pieces of legislation to commemorate the accomplishments of women throughout history. In 2019, her bipartisan Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act, honoring the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote and the legacy of the suffrage activists, was signed into law by President Trump.

Additionally, among the 40 monuments, memorials, statues and historic sites on the National Mall, there is not one dedicated to an American woman. Senator Blackburn has introduced the bipartisan Women's Suffrage National Monument Location Act to commemorate the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and secure a monument honoring women’s history in the sacred location.