Fewer women hold top security posts under Trump, Democrats report
A Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democratic report finds the number of women in senior national security and diplomatic roles has continued to fall during Trump's second term.
The number of women serving in top national security and diplomatic roles in the Trump administration keeps falling, according to a new report from Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The October 30 report, titled “Trump’s War on Women: The Systematic Dismantling of Decades of Progress at Home and Abroad During the Administration’s Second Term,” describes what it calls the deliberate unraveling of U.S. support for women and girls around the world.
The report says only 13% of U.S. diplomatic missions are now led by women, while nearly half were led by women before the president returned to office. It also points to a sharp reduction in the number of women serving as ambassadors and military leaders since Trump’s second term began. Programs aimed at supporting women internationally, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Office of Global Women’s Issues (GWI), have been dismantled, and the report documents a corresponding drop in women’s roles within those areas.
The Democrats also argue that foreign aid cuts have fallen hardest on women and girls. According to the report, 88% of maternal and child health funding has been canceled, along with 94% of sexual and reproductive health funding and nearly 80% of funding for gender-based violence prevention and response. The report characterizes these changes as part of what it calls the advancement of a political ideology that deliberately excludes women. It cites the expansion of the Global Gag Rule, which bars recipients of certain U.S. global health funds from using those funds to counsel women toward or refer them for abortions, and it describes restrictions on the promotion of gender-affirming care and on certain diversity, equity and inclusion and racial justice programs.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who commissioned the research, said in the report, “For decades, the United States has recognized that the status of women and girls is closely tied to global stability and security.” She argued that in Trump’s second term the administration has worked to dismantle “the diplomatic and foreign assistance infrastructure built to carry out these laws.” “By eliminating USAID, slashing foreign assistance and gutting offices focused on supporting women, he has ended programs that kept girls in school, provided health care and protected them from violence and human trafficking,” Shaheen said. “Supporting women and girls is not separate from advancing American interests—it is how we prevent conflict, strengthen our partners and compete.”
The report also draws on a June analysis from the Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP), which found that women hold only four of 23 Cabinet or Cabinet-level positions in the current administration, a rate of 17.4%. At its peak under Biden, the rate was 35% overall, and women held a majority of those roles at 52%. The Democrats’ report adds that only eight of 201 candidates for senior military roles this year were women, and 35 of 206 State Department nominees were women.
Beyond personnel, the report criticizes what it describes as a failure to invest in girls’ education and in efforts to prevent child marriage, which it says could cost $2.5 trillion in losses by 2040. It also states that deaths among children under five rose in 2025, the first time this century the figure has trended in the wrong direction.
The release comes amid a series of high-profile departures. Katie Zacharia, who succeeded Karoline Leavitt as Trump’s press secretary, was asked to step down after just five days in the role. Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, was ousted weeks earlier. Before Guilfoyle’s exit, four other Cabinet-level officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, left within roughly three months. All four of those women were replaced by men. Last year, Trump said his administration had “more women in our cabinet than any Republican president in the history of our country.” Following the departures, the report notes that only four women now hold Cabinet roles: Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Chief of Staff Susan Wiles.
In a statement to CBS News on the report’s findings, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales defended the administration, saying, “President Trump is a champion for women and moms across this country.” The same week, New York Attorney General Letitia James used a campaign appearance with outgoing Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett to criticize the president, arguing that Congress has neutered itself, a sign of how the administration’s record is being contested heading into the midterms.
Source: fastcompany.com
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