Apr 30, 2025 03:22 AM IST
The Women Peace and Security program was signed into law by President Trump during his first term at the White House
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.
Hegseth drops new bombshell
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.
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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.
What is the Women Peace and Security program?
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.”
