Does new White House council have real power to help women?

According to Voice of America, President Obama signed an executive order last week establishing the White House Council on Women and Girls.

A statement from the White House says the council will work on improving women's economic security, evaluating and developing public policy that is family-friendly, finding new ways to prevent violence against women, and improving women's health care.

Mr. Obama noted that while women and girls make up half the nation's population, women make up only 17 percent of the members of the U.S. Congress and three percent of the heads of the top 500 corporations in the United States.

Feministe and Feministing both have commentary on this (and both have embedded YouTube videos of the president's speech announcing the council), and both blogs seem to think this panel offers real hope of improving the position of women in the US. On the other hand, Linda Lowen at about.com suggests that this might be a public relations move with very little real substance. Using a post on politico.com as her source, she notes that the council has no full-time staff and no set meeting schedule.