By Victoria Merlino

After two decades, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s dream of creating a national women’s history museum may be inching closer to reality.

Maloney announced last month that her bill to create the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum had passed the 290-sponsor threshold and was moving toward a House vote. There is no museum in the country dedicated to women’s history, according to a fact sheet released by Maloney, and only five percent of the United States’ approximately 2,400 national monuments honor women.

If built, the museum would be located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

“For me, it is hard to see how anyone could oppose legislation that will inspire the next generation of American leaders by telling the stories of American women who have shaped our nation,” Maloney said in a statement.