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Int'l Business Times
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
When It comes to Women, the United States Leads the Way
The United States stands as the only country in the world to pass a law on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). In October 2017, the United States took the groundbreaking step when President Donald Trump signed into law the bipartisan Women, Peace, and Security Act. This legislation marked the first comprehensive WPS law globally, making the United States a pioneer in formally recognizing women's critical contributions to conflict prevention, management, and resolution. The Act builds on the growing policy framework developed over the past two decades to improve women's participation in security processes, evolving from the landmark Security Council Resolution 1325 approved at the United Nations in 2000. The Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 requires the United States to develop a comprehensive strategy to increase and strengthen women's participation in peace negotiations and conflict prevention. This bipartisan achievement represents years of collaborative work by members of Congress, administration officials, and advocates seeking better solutions to end wars, combat terrorism, and improve human rights worldwide. The law ensures Congressional oversight in the U.S. Government's efforts to integrate women's perspectives across its diplomatic, development, and defense-related work in conflict-affected environments. The Evidence for Women's Participation in Peacebuilding Research demonstrates that the inclusion of women in peace processes significantly enhances stability and reduces conflict. When women participate in peace negotiations, the resulting agreement becomes 64 percent less likely to fail and 35 percent more likely to last at least fifteen years. Studies consistently show that higher levels of equality between men and women correlate with a lower propensity for conflict, both between and within nations. Data from countries worldwide further confirms that including women in peacekeeping units, police forces, and security sectors improves accountability and decreases abuses against civilians. Women serve as essential peacebuilders in communities globally, countering extremism, preventing conflicts, and driving economic growth . Their contributions significantly reduce the need for international interventions, thereby enhancing global stability and prosperity. After conflicts, the promotion of women-led businesses boosts economic recovery for everyone, creating jobs and fostering widespread prosperity. Improvements in women's access to technology, financial credit, and resources contribute to the productivity not just of women but of society as a whole. Strategic Implementation Across Government Agencies Following the passage of the WPS Act, the Trump Administration released the first U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security in June 2019, making the United States the first nation with both a comprehensive law and a whole-of-government strategy on WPS. This strategy recognized the diverse roles women play as agents of change in preventing and resolving conflict, countering terrorism and violent extremism, and building post-conflict peace and stability. It identified key strategic objectives: preparing women to participate in peace efforts, improving protection for women and girls, and institutionalizing WPS efforts within government structures. As mandated by the Act, the U.S. Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, along with the U.S. Agency for International Development, submitted implementation plans outlining how they would operationalize the WPS Act within their respective missions. The Act requires these agencies to provide training for diplomats, development professionals, and security personnel to support the inclusion of female negotiators, mediators, and peacebuilders around the world. To promote accountability, the law also imposes reporting requirements on relevant federal agencies, ensuring continued focus on advancing women's participation in security processes. The Future of Women, Peace, and Security Initiatives The Biden Administration had continued these efforts, including through Executive Order 14020 in March 2021, which established the White House Gender Policy Council and directed the creation of the first-ever U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality. The administration also established the Women Leading Effective and Accountable Democracy in the Digital Age initiative (Women LEAD), focused on advancing women's political participation globally and addressing barriers to women's leadership, both online and offline. Women constitute 50 percent of the global population and play a key role in helping countries become more secure and peaceful. In the United States, this translates to a continuing commitment to making women a central part of U.S. foreign policy. The Women, Peace, and Security Congressional Caucus continues to promote awareness and congressional oversight to ensure the WPS mandate is carried out effectively. As most of the legislative mandates of the Women, Peace, and Security Act expired in 2024, prioritizing the Act's renewal remains essential to institutionalizing WPS efforts and strengthening global peace and stability.
Epoch Times
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Hegseth Touts End of ‘Woke' Women's Program Backed by First Trump Admin
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday announced he is scrapping a women's leadership program implemented during President Donald Trump's first term. The program is operated by the United Nations and is 'pushed by feminists and left-wing activists,' according to the defense secretary. 'This morning, I proudly ENDED the 'Women, Peace & Security' (WPS) program inside the [Department of Defense],' Hegseth wrote in a Hegseth said that 'politicians fawn' over the program but troops 'hate' it. The WPS program was developed in response to the Women, Peace, and Security Act, which Trump signed into law on Oct. 6, 2017. The Trump administration at the time The law, outlined by the U.N. Security Council and adopted as in a Related Stories 4/25/2025 4/24/2025 Ivanka said in a Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem co-sponsored the WPS Act when she represented South Dakota in Congress. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who co-wrote the 2017 bill with then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Amy McGrath, the first woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps, argued in a Hegseth later Tuesday appeared to Tuesday's announcement aligns with the Trump administration's efforts to end federal diversity initiatives across the government. It also aligns with the efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency to slash government waste and abuse. Hegseth declared he would 'fight to end the program for our next budget.' The Pentagon did not provide specific details on how much the initiative costs. From NTD News
Daily Mail
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Pete Hegseth accidentally roasts Noem and Rubio as he shuts down 'woke' Pentagon program
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth canceled a program that sought to increase the role of women in national security sectors that was first signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017. In a move that was meant to target the previous Biden administration, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instead found himself torching key members of Donald Trump 's own cabinet as he vowed to gut a Pentagon initiative focused on women's roles in conflict prevention. On Tuesday, Hegseth announced that he would begin dismantling the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) program, a defense-wide initiative that promotes women's participation in peace-building efforts and national security planning. The program was signed into law by President Trump in 2017, the WPS Act had bipartisan backing and global acclaim, but in a scorching post on X, Hegseth dismissed the effort entirely. 'Yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops - distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING,' Hegseth tweeted. He didn't stop there. Hegseth labeled the WPS initiative as a ' UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists,' vowing the Pentagon would only comply with the bare minimum requirements under federal statute before lobbying Congress to kill the program outright. But in aiming at 'wokeness,' Hegseth overlooked a crucial detail: the program wasn't a Biden-era initiative but was in fact created and codified by the previous Trump administration. The program has even been celebrated by Trump, his administration and his family. On Tuesday, Hegseth announced that he would begin dismantling the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) program, a defense-wide initiative that promotes women's participation in peace-building efforts and national security planning It became a heralded part of the first Trump administration's accomplishments for women, and in 2019, Ivanka Trump celebrated that the WPS program was starting a new partnership to help train female police cadets in Colombia. In a later post, Hegseth wrote a post saying, without evidence the program was 'straight-forward & security-focused' but that it had been 'distorted & weaponized' by the Biden administration. He confirmed his intention to end it. At the time of its introduction it received significant help from Trump's closest allies, including Kristi Noem and Marco Rubio, both now prominent cabinet officials in Trump's second term. But Hegseth's inadvertently scorched the very figures expected to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him in the administration's ideological war against 'wokeness.' Kristi Noem, now Homeland Security Secretary, was the lead author of the House version of the 2017 Women, Peace, and Security Act when she served in Congress. At the time, she introduced the bill alongside progressive Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois). Marco Rubio, Secretary of State and former senator from Florida, co-sponsored the Senate version of the same law and hailed Trump's signature on it as a historic moment. Even as recently as this month, Rubio celebrated the WPS Act as 'the first law passed by any country in the world focused on protecting women and promoting their participation in society.' The legislation stemmed from a resolution unanimously endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, the most powerful UN body, in October 2000, aimed at including women in peacebuilding efforts because women and girls have historically borne the brunt of global conflict. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, another staunch Trump ally, previously co-chaired the bipartisan Women, Peace and Security Caucus in Congress and supported efforts to expand the program. Hegseth's post drew fire from Democratic lawmakers who are continuing to question his qualifications for the job following his use of the commercial app Signal to share sensitive military operations with other officials, his wife and brother. Many Democrats and national security veterans accused him of willfully ignoring both the program's origins and its track record. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), who co-authored the Senate version of the bill with Rubio, issued a blistering statement. 'It's startling that just because the word 'women' is in the title, this evidence-based security program has been reduced to a DEI program,' Shaheen said. 'This is a dangerous and disturbing pattern from the Secretary, who clearly does not listen to advice from senior military leaders.' Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) took aim at the credibility of Hegseth's claim that the military hates the program. 'The fact that he claims that it's a Biden issue when it is an initiative that was supported unanimously by a Republican majority of the Senate and 'troops hate it' when the newly confirmed head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff testifies to its value, I find shocking,' Kaine said. Indeed, that military leader, Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, Trump's nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, spoke favorably of the WPS program during his recent confirmation hearing, lauding its role in creating more stable post-conflict environments and strengthening US national security. 'When we would go out into the field after concluding an assault, we would have female members who would speak with those women and children who were on the objective, and they would help us to understand the human terrain in a new and novel way,' Caine said during his April confirmation hearing. Trump met and became endeared to Caine when Caine was serving in Iraq, part of the reason Trump nominated him to the chairmanship. Despite the program's bipartisan history and continued endorsements from military brass, Hegseth is pressing forward. He insisted in his post that social justice frameworks have no place in military planning and accused the Pentagon of being 'distracted from its core task.' But critics say Hegseth's real distraction may be his obsession with performative anti-woke crusades, even if it means taking aim at his own administration's accomplishments. As of Tuesday evening, neither Rubio nor Noem had responded publicly to Hegseth's remarks. It's the latest controversial move from Hegseth as the Pentagon works to nix programs or content seen as promoting diversity, equity or inclusion. After Trump ordered federal agencies to purge DEI content, the Pentagon issued a broad edict to the military services that ignited public outcry when online images of national heroes like Jackie Robinson were briefly removed.
New York Post
29-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Hegseth vows to kill first-term Trump program promoting women in national security, claims Biden made it ‘woke'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Tuesday that he is killing a first-term Trump administration program focused on women in national security – claiming former President Joe Biden turned it 'woke.' The Pentagon chief announced the move in a tweet, saying the Department of Defense would wind down its 'Women, Peace and Security' program, which he assailed as an initiative pushed by 'feminists and left-wing activists. 3 Hegseth assailed the program, which was started by President Trump in his first term. AP 'WPS is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING,' Hegseth blasted out. 'WPS is a UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists. Politicians fawn over it; troops HATE it.' He said the Defense Department would execute the minimum amount of work required by statute to keep the program breathing before fighting to end it in the next budget. 3 The defense secretary blasted former President Joe Biden, saying he ruined the program. Getty Images The social-media post was later slapped with a community note to make clear it was Hegseth's boss, President Trump, who created the program during his first term to promote greater involvement by women to try to stop conflicts across the globe. The president has even boasted about the initiative in campaign literature, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both backed legislation that brought the program to life when they were in Congress. Rubio praised the WPS earlier this month at the State Department. 3 The Pentagon will try to kill the program for good during the next budget process. AFP via Getty Images 'President Trump also signed the Women, Peace, and Security Act, a bill that I was very proud to have been a co-sponsor of when I was in the Senate,' Rubio said. 'It was the first comprehensive law passed in any country in the world – the first law passed by any country anywhere in the world – focused on protecting women and promoting their participation in society.' Hegseth attempted to clean up his initial criticism of the WPS by claiming in a later tweet that Biden ruined it. 'The woke & weak Biden Administration distorted & weaponized the straight-forward & security-focused WPS initiative launched in 2017,' Hegseth said. 'So—yes—we are ending the 'woke divisive/social justice/Biden (WPS) initiative.' Biden ruined EVERYTHING, including 'Women, Peace & Security.'' Hegseth has been under pressure over reports alleging he shared wars plans in unsecured Signal chats, including with a journalist mistakenly added in one group thread and his wife and brother in a second chat. The Pentagon has also seen a series of notable departures that led to questions about Hegseth's ability to do his job, though Trump is so far backing him. With Post wires
Hindustan Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
What is the ‘Women, Peace & Security' program? Hegseth cancels 'woke' bill signed by Trump in 2017
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that he will be winding down a federal program at the Pentagon. The program was brought into effect by President Donald Trump back in 2017 when he was serving his first term at the White House. Def Sec Hegseth is calling the Women, Peace and Security program as another "woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative". He went on to say that such a program distracts the Pentagon from its primary goal: War-Fighting, according to a Politico report. ALSO READ | 2 Atlantic reporters got a 'butt dial' from Trump after he turned down their interview. Here's what happened next Hegseth also claimed that this was a program pushed forward by feminists and left-wingers. But, it is interesting to note that this bill was not introduced by any Democrat President. Instead, the bill was signed by Donald Trump, the reining US President during his initial term. The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) program was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017 through the bipartisan Women, Peace, and Security Act. It was a landmark initiative aimed at involving more women into global conflict resolution and security efforts. The program sought to elevate women's participation in peace negotiations, counterterrorism, and post-conflict stabilization. The then Trump's administration framed it as a strategic tool to strengthen US security interests, emphasizing its role in improving military effectiveness. The legislation, co-sponsored by prominent Republicans like then-Senator Marco Rubio and then-Congresswoman Kristi Noem, was touted as a global first. It promoted women's roles in security policy and earning praise from Trump allies, including his daughter Ivanka Trump, as per reports. However, the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs's official section about this program reads, "Despite many global and regional commitments and initiatives, the number of women included in formal peacemaking processes remains low; and many peace agreements do not include gender provisions that sufficiently address women's security and peacebuilding needs."
